James Baldwin

[I am] someone who represents a very complex country which insists on being simple-minded. And simplicity […] is taken to be a great American virtue, along with sincerity. […] And as long as you’re sincere in what you say, you haven’t got to know what you’re talking about. These are the American virtues—two of them anyway. One of the results of this is that immaturity is taken to be a virtue too.