Sentimentality, the ostentatious parading of excessive and spurious emotion, is the mark of dishonesty, the inability to feel; the wet eyes of the sentimentalist betray his aversion to experience, his fear of life, his arid heart; and it is always, therefore, the signal of a secret and violent inhumanity, the mask of cruelty.
James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son
A civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.
James Baldwin
It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.
James Baldwin