Confronted with the impossibility of remaining faithful to one's beliefs, and the equal impossibility of becoming free of them, one can be driven to the most inhuman excesses.
Source: Stranger in the Village, in Harper's (New York, Oct. 1953; repr. in Notes of a Native Son, pt. 2, 1955).
-- James Baldwin, (Aug 2 1924-1987), US novelist, essayist; He was a noted spokesman for American blacks in 1950s-60s.