QuoteProject
I want to be an honest man and a good writer.
James A. Baldwin
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote expresses the desire for personal integrity and the aspiration to communicate thoughtfully through writing.

In this quote, James A. Baldwin emphasizes the importance of honesty in both character and art. He suggests that to be a good writer, one must possess a commitment to truthfulness, which not only guides ethical conduct but also enriches the authenticity and impact of one's writing. This reflects a deep understanding that artistry and morality are intertwined, and that a writer’s responsibility extends beyond mere creativity to include the integrity of their expression.

Themes

HonestyWritingIntegrityTruthArt

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech at a writer's conference, one might say, 'As James A. Baldwin once expressed, I want to be an honest man and a good writer.'

More from James A. Baldwin

It is dangerous to be an American Negro male. America has never wanted its Negroes to be men, and does not, generally, treat them as men. It treats them as mascots, pets, or things.
James A. BaldwinRead
The white man discovered the Cross by way of the Bible, but the black man discovered the Bible by way of the Cross.
James A. BaldwinRead
Those kids aren't dumb. But the people who run these schools want to make sure they don't get smart: they are really teaching the kids to be slaves.
James A. BaldwinRead
Experience, which destroys innocence, also leads one back to it.
James A. BaldwinRead
The reason people think it's important to be white is that they think it's important not to be black.
James A. BaldwinRead
The trick is to love somebody.... If you love one person, you see everybody else differently.
James A. BaldwinRead

Similar quotes

If you are willing to take an instant to withdraw attention from whatever your internal dialogue is, to withdraw energy from whatever the latest point of view about your suffering is, it is immediately obvious what is here: the fullness, the richness and the love of oneself as conscious life.
GangajiRead
You are who you are at this moment because of everything that's ever happened to you, everything that you carried forward for yourself.
Oprah WinfreyRead
I compare myself with my former self, not with others. Not only that, I tend to compare my current self with the best I have been, which is when I have been midly manic. When I am my present "normal" self, I am far removed from when I have been my liveliest, most productive, most intense, most outgoing and effervescent. In sort, for myself, I am a hard act to follow.
Kay Redfield JamisonRead
Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you.
Ford Madox FordRead
Of the few innocent pleasures left to men past middle life, the jamming of common sense down the throats of fools is perhaps the keenest.
Thomas HuxleyRead
We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power.
Bertrand RussellRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.