James Baldwin Quotes

Because all my life I've learned to suffer in silence - Athena

What other people think of me is none of my business. Sometimes, it hurts my feelings, but I have to just keep going.

The secret of joy is the mastery of pain.

One can bear anything of which one is able to conceive.

There is nothing noble about suffering except the love and forgiveness with which we meet it. Many believe that if they are suffering they are closer to God, but I have met very few who could keep their heart open to their suffering enough for that to be true. (124)

Suffering is optional. You’re gonna have some pain but it doesn’t have to make you suffer.

I know that happy things and fun things eventually come to an end. But things that are scary and sad come to an end too...they always do. Even if you can't always believe that , please don't give up. Live.

When I knew I couldn't suffer another moment of pain, and tears fell on my bloody bindings, my mother spoke softly into my ear, encouraging me to go one more hour, one more day, one more week, reminding me of the rewards I would have if I carried on a little longer. In this way, she taught me how to endure — not just the physical trials of footbinding and childbearing but the more torturous pain of the heart, mind, and soul.

You have to continue to believe in yourself, know your value and continue to work on honing your skills. I was rejected by everyone but here I sit. So you have to stay in the game, you can't just fall apart. Hopefully those challenges will make you stronger, it did for me.

One can bear anything. The pain we cannot bear will kill us outright.

Ever morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision. You gone have to ask yourself, "Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?

We're always attracted to characters who are people we could identify with and yet are put through incredibly tortured or difficult circumstances - the idea being that you don't really know who you are until you've been tested or suffered in some way.

We're not hard people.

I think for a girl to be strong, it doesn't have to involve being physically strong.

But my experience is that people who have been through painful, difficult times are filled with compassion.

They did it to try and belittle me, to try and to take away my pride. But I went through the whole system with them. And at the end, I - I wanted the public to know that I was okay, even though I was hurting.

I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.

When our TV screens are filled with heartbreaking images of suffering, we have to dig deep inside ourselves in order to keep going.

If somebody, without knowing me, comes up to me and wants to upset or belittle me, I think that reflects badly on them, not me... if you're ever unsure of what to call me or someone like me, my name always does well.

The fact that people don't like me doesn't bother me.

My favorite song on the album is 'Paper Doll' because I think it's a message that a lot of people need to hear, and it's about something that a lot of people struggle with. But I don't victimize myself in the song and I don't allow the person who's trying to intimidate me get to me.

I have a duty to speak the truth as I see it and share not just my triumphs, not just the things that felt good, but the pain, the intense, often unmitigated pain. It is important to share how I know survival is survival and not just a walk throught the rain.

I write from a thorough conviction that it is the duty of me, and with the belief that, after every drawback and shortcoming, I do my best, all things considered--that is for me, and, so being, the not being listened to by one human creature would, I hope, in nowise affect me.

Don't waste your pain; use it to help others.