• It is only because the world looks on his talent with such a frightening indifference that the artist is compelled to make his talent important.

    James A. Baldwin: It is only because the world looks on his talent with such a frightening indifference that the artist is compelled to make his talent important.
    "Autobiographical Notes" by James A. Baldwin (1952), republished in James A. Baldwin "Notes of a Native Son" (1955), archive.nytimes.com.