“It is true that two wrongs don't make a right, as we love to point out to the people we have wronged. But one wrong doesn't make a right, either.”
"Negroes Are Anti-Semitic Because They're Anti-White" http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin-antisem.html in The New York Times (9 April 1967)
Context: It is true that two wrongs don't make a right, as we love to point out to the people we have wronged. But one wrong doesn't make a right, either. People who have been wronged will attempt to right the wrong; they would not be people if they didn't. They can rarely afford to be scrupulous about the means they will use. They will use such means as come to hand. Neither, in the main, will they distinguish one oppressor from another, nor see through to the root principle of their oppression.
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James Baldwin 163
(1924-1987) writer from the United States 1924–1987Related quotes
“Two wrongs don't make a right, but they make a good excuse.”
Source: The Second Sin (1973), P. 49.
“Two wrongs don't make a right.
No, but three will get you back on the freeway!”
“Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three lefts do.”
Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)
what use in idle words? —
Forward, O warriors of the soul!
There will be breaking up of swords
When that new morning makes us whole.
Forward
The Lord of Misrule and Other Poems (1915)
"Former U.S. Ambassador To Russia On The Arrest Of Russian Opposition Leader" in NPR https://www.npr.org/2021/01/18/958120724/former-u-s-ambassador-to-russia-on-the-arrest-of-russian-opposition-leader (18 January 2021)