"The Fire Next Time" Quotes

The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.

The obligation of anyone who thinks of himself as responsible is to examine society and try to change it and to fight it - at no matter what risk.

It is rare indeed that people give. Most people guard and keep; they suppose that it is they themselves and what they identify with themselves that they are guarding and keeping, whereas what they are actually guarding and keeping is their system of reality and what they assume themselves to be.

The root of the black man's hatred is rage, and he does not so much hate other individuals as the society that he believes to be responsible for their safety and their prosperity.

Everything now, we must assume, is in our hands; we have no right to assume otherwise.

If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.

The moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.

The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.

The primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men, necessarily, must avoid; the state of being alone.

It is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime.