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Friday, August 2, 2013

James Baldwin

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

“Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, the only fact we have. It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death--ought to decide, indeed, to earn one's death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life.”

from THE FIRE NEXT TIME

- James Baldwin, born 2 August 1924.

Influential American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His works explore the intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in mid-20th-century America.

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