Tracing Quotations
James Baldwin? Sol Stein? Claudia Roth Pierpont? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There are powerful pressures to conform and follow the conventions of one’s society. But the renegade does not fit into a pre-existing slot. A prominent literary figure once said: The place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it. Essayist …
Continue reading “The Place in Which I’ll Fit Will Not Exist Until I Make It”
James Baldwin? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Change is onerous. The prominent writer James Baldwin once constructed a vivid analogy between change and birth. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: In 1977 James Baldwin published an article titled “Every Good-bye Ain’t Gone” in “New York” magazine containing the following passage. Boldface …
Continue reading “Most of Us Are About as Eager To Be Changed as We Were To Be Born”
James Baldwin? Jane Howard? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Reading about other lives and cultures can replace a narrow self-involved vision with a wide open vista. The pains and afflictions of one’s own life are placed into a larger perspective when one reads about the harrowing travails of others. The prominent novelist and playwright James Baldwin …
James Baldwin? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The prominent writer James Baldwin crafted a brilliant two part statement about purposeful literature: Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced. The word “everything” was converted to its antonym “nothing” in the second part. Also, the key words “faced” …
James Baldwin? Norman Mailer? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Individuals who consider themselves to be pure in heart are unable to recognize their own flaws. This can lead to wrong-headed and disastrous actions. The prominent novelist and essayist James Baldwin once made a comparable point about benighted self-assessment. Would you please help me to find a …
James Baldwin? Salim Muwakkil? Leonard Shlain? Jeff Baysa? Edgar H. Sorrells-Adewale? Tom Barone? Alva Noë? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The commonly accepted answers to questions are sometimes flawed. Deeper and more truthful discoveries are concealed by shallow and misleading explanations. A germane assertion about the objective of art has been attributed to the prominent author …
James Baldwin? James Mark Baldwin? Stanley Baldwin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a quotation that begins with an assertion that fires cannot be made with dead embers. The quotation has often been credited to U.S. writer James Baldwin, but I haven’t been able to find a solid citation. Would you please explore this topic? …
James Baldwin? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: According to the prominent author and social critic James Baldwin the craft of writing depends fundamentally on channeling experience. He employed the metaphorical phrase “the last drop, sweet or bitter”. Would you please help me to find a citation for his statement? Quote Investigator: In 1955 James Baldwin published …
Continue reading “One Writes Out of One Thing Only—One’s Own Experience”