A quotes list created by Lee Sonogan
If you want a quote to share with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, how about some Malcolm X! An advocate for his community while also commenting realism within race, his civil rights movement under “by any means necessary,” against real morally corrupt organisations. Also, a supporter of black nationalism, many of his rational virtues emphasises the best of libertarian-conservative values can offer. Makes me want to watch the 1992 film of three hours and 22 minutes starring Denzel Washington.
- “A race of people is like an individual man; until it uses its own talent, takes pride in its own history, expresses its own culture, affirms its own selfhood, it can never fulfill itself.” — Malcolm X
- “There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time.” — Malcolm X
- “When a person places the proper value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom. Whenever you hear a man saying he wants freedom, but in the next breath he is going to tell you what he won’t do to get it, or what he doesn’t believe in doing in order to get it, he doesn’t believe in freedom. A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire . . . or preserve his freedom.” — Malcolm X
- “I for one believe that if you give people a thorough understanding of what confronts them and the basic causes that produce it, they’ll create their own program, and when the people create a program, you get action.” — Malcolm X
- “It’s just like when you’ve got some coffee that’s too black, which means it’s too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won’t even know you ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep.” — “Message to the Grass Roots,” speech, Nov. 1963, Detroit (published in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 1, 1965).
- “You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” — “Prospects for Freedom in 1965,” speech, Jan. 7 1965, New York City (published in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 12, 1965).
- “I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.” — Malcolm X
- “My alma mater was books, a good library…. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.”― Malcolm X
- “To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal. You see, I could conceive death, but I could not conceive betrayal.”― Malcolm X
- “Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner. You must be eating some of what’s on that plate. Being here in America doesn’t make you an American. Being born here in America doesn’t make you an American.” — “The Ballot or the Bullet,” speech, April 3 1964, Cleveland, Ohio (published in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 3, 1965).
- “If someone puts their hands on you make sure they never put their hands on anybody else again.”― Malcom X
- “Don’t be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn’t do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today.” — Malcolm X
- “There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time.” — Malcolm X
- “The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”― Malcolm X
- “If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success. ”― Malcolm X
- “I feel like a man who has been asleep somewhat and under someone else’s control. I feel that what I’m thinking and saying is now for myself. Before it was for and by the guidance of Elijah Muhammad. Now I think with my own mind, sir!” — Malcolm X
- “A wise man can play the part of a clown, but a clown can’t play the part of a wise man.” – Malcolm X
- “We declare our right on this earth…to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.”― Malcolm X
- “The true brotherhood I had seen had influenced me to recognize that anger can blind human vision,” – Malcolm X (Converting To Muslim)
Also, there is plenty of books written about him documenting speeches/lectures. Other than that there is an autobiography and By Any Means Necessary title that looks intriguing to read myself one day. Somewhat radical in his rhetoric although a fair blank slate for people with different positions to their own interpretations.
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