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
Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Talent alone is not enough for success; endurance and other factors are essential.
James A. Baldwin emphasizes that while talent is important, it is not the sole determinant of success. The quote suggests that qualities such as discipline, love, luck, and particularly endurance play a vital role in overcoming challenges and achieving one's goals, indicating that hard work and perseverance are more valuable than natural ability alone.
Themes
TalentEnduranceDisciplineSuccessHard Work
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about overcoming obstacles, one might say, 'As James A. Baldwin once said, talent is insignificant without endurance.'
More from James A. Baldwin
All quotes βThe 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
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Black people in America, people from the struggle, immigrants, it's no generational wealth that we are attached to, so we are tasked to create - in one generation - closing the gap. That's why we so Doomsday about getting to the check: 'cause it's life or death for real.
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Ten years from now, no one is going to care how quickly the books came out. The only thing that will matter, the only thing anyone will remember, is how good they were. That's my main concern, and always will be.
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You can't win if nobody catches the ball in the outfield. You're only as good as the team you have behind you.
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