(?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)
James Baldwin

“The trouble with a secret life is that it is very frequently a secret from the person who lives it and not at all a secret for the people he encounters. He encounters, because he must encounter, those people who see his secrecy before they see anything else, and who drag these secrets out of him; sometimes with the intention of using them against him, sometimes with more benevolent intent; but, whatever the intent, the moment is awful and the accumulating revelation is an unspeakable anguish. The aim of the dreamer, after all, is merely to go on dreaming and not to be molested by the world. His dreams are his protection against the world. But the aims of life are antithetical to those of the dreamer, and the teeth of the world are sharp.”

James Baldwin, Another Country
Read more quotes from James Baldwin


Share this quote:
Share on Twitter

Friends Who Liked This Quote

To see what your friends thought of this quote, please sign up!

91 likes
All Members Who Liked This Quote



This Quote Is From

Another Country Another Country by James Baldwin
32,943 ratings, average rating, 3,809 reviews
Open Preview

Browse By Tag