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The face of a lover is an unknown, precisely because it is invested with so much of oneself. It is a mystery, containing, like all mysteries, the possibility of torment.

James A. Baldwin

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James A. Baldwin
Faces
Precisely
Much
Lover
Like
Unknown
Lovers
Oneself
Containing
Mystery
Invested
Possibility
Mysteries
Face
Torment

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Pessimists are the people who have no hope for themselves or for others. Pessimists are also people who think the human race is beneath their notice, that they're better than other human beings.
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The world tends to trap you in the role you play and it is always extremely hard to maintain a watchful, mocking distance between oneself as one appears to be and oneself as one actually is.
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Sentimentality, the ostentatious parading of excessive and spurious emotion, is the mark of dishonesty, the inability to feel.
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It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.
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If I am not what you say I am, then you are not who you think you are.
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A writer has to take all the risks of putting down what he sees. No one can tell him about that. No one can control that reality. It reminds me of something Pablo Picasso was supposed to have said to Gertrude Stein while he was painting her portrait. Gertrude said, “I don’t look like that.” And Picasso replied, “You will.” And he was right.
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The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.
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There are few things under heaven more unnerving than the silent, accumulating contempt and hatred of a people.
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Artists are here to disturb the peace.
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