You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has
his freedom.
– Malcolm X
Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it’s against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of
the oppressed today, it’s against the oppressor. You don’t need anything else. Education is
our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.
– Malcolm X
You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent
human being.
– Malcolm X
I’m not an American. I’m one of the 22 million Black people who are the victims of
Americanism. One of the 22 million Black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing
but disguised hypocrisy.
– Malcolm X
We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be 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
If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success.
– Malcolm X
Concerning non-violence: It is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the
constant victim of brutal attacks.
– Malcolm X
Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on
you, send him to the cemetery.
– Malcolm X
I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a
human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits
humanity as a whole.
– Malcolm X
If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.
– Malcolm X
You get your freedom by letting your enemy know that you’ll do anything to get it. Then
you’ll get it. It’s the only way you’ll get it.
– Malcolm X
Without education, you’re not going anywhere in this world.
– Malcolm X
I am neither a fanatic nor a dreamer. I am a black man who loves peace, and justice, and
loves his people.
– Malcolm X
I don’t favor violence. If we could bring about recognition and respect of our people by
peaceful means, well and good. Everybody would like to reach his objectives peacefully. But
I’m also a realist. The only people in this country who are asked to be nonviolent are black
people.
– Malcolm X
It is a time for martyrs now, and if I am to be one, it will be for the cause of brotherhood.
That’s the only thing that can save this country.
– Malcolm X
We’re not Americans, we’re Africans who happen to be in America. We were kidnapped and
brought here against our will from Africa. We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock – that rock landed
on us.
– Malcolm X
I do believe that there will be a clash between East and West. I believe that there will be a
clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who
want to continue the systems of exploitation. I believe that there will be that kind of clash,
but I don’t think that it will be based upon the color of the skin.
– Malcolm X
In fact, once he is motivated no one can change more completely than the man who has
been at the bottom. I call myself the best example of that.
– Malcolm X
To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace.
– Malcolm X
You can’t have capitalism without racism.
– Malcolm X
Did the Zionists have the legal or moral right to invade Arab Palestine, uproot its Arab citizens
from their homes and seize all Arab property for themselves just based on the “religious” claim
that their forefathers lived there thousands of years ago? Only a thousand years ago the
Moors lived in Spain. Would this give the Moors of today the legal and moral right to invade
the Iberian Peninsula, drive out its Spanish citizens, and then set up a new Moroccan nation?
– Malcolm X
I don’t even call it violence when it’s in self defense; I call it intelligence.
– Malcolm X
The government has failed us; you can’t deny that. Anytime you live in the twentieth century,
1964, and you walking around here singing “We Shall Overcome,” the government has failed us.
This is part of what’s wrong with you – you do too much singing. Today it’s time to stop
singing and start swinging. You can’t sing up on freedom, but you can swing up on some
freedom.
– Malcolm X
I imagine that one of the biggest troubles with colleges is there are too many distractions,
too much panty-raiding, fraternities, and boola-boola and all of that.
– Malcolm X
Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression.
– Malcolm X
History is a people’s memory, and without a memory, man is demoted to the lower animals.
– Malcolm X
If you are in a country that is progressive, the woman is progressive. If you’re in a country
that reflects the consciousness toward the importance of education, it’s because the woman
is aware of the importance of education. But in every backward country you’ll find the women
are backward, and in every country where education is not stressed its because the women
don’t have education.
– Malcolm X
Here I am, back in Mecca. I am still traveling, trying to broaden my mind, for I’ve seen too
much of the damage narrow-mindedness can make of things, and when I return home to
America, I will devote what energies I have to repairing the damage.
– Malcolm X
Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the gun down.
– 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
Anytime you see someone more successful than you are, they are doing something you
aren’t.
– Malcolm X
Early in life I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.
– Malcolm X
You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no
matter who does it or says it.
– Malcolm X
If someone puts their hands on you make sure they never put their hands on anybody else
again.
– Malcolm X
I am a Muslim, because it’s a religion that teaches you an eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth. It teaches you to respect everybody, and treat everybody right. But it also teaches
you if someone steps on your toe, chop off their foot. And I carry my religious axe with me all
the time.
– Malcolm X
We have to keep in mind at all times that we are not fighting for integration, nor are we
fighting for separation. We are fighting for recognition… for the right to live as free humans in
this society.
– Malcolm X
The only way we’ll get freedom for ourselves is to identify ourselves with every oppressed
people in the world. We are blood brothers to the people of Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti… Cuba –
yes, Cuba too.
– Malcolm X
I’ve never seen a sincere white man, not when it comes to helping black people. Usually
things like this are done by white people to benefit themselves. The white man’s primary
interest is not to elevate the thinking of black people, or to waken black people, or white
people either. The white man is interested in the black man only to the extent that the black
man is of use to him. The white man’s interest is to make money, to exploit.
– Malcolm X
An integrated cup of coffee isn’t sufficient pay for four hundred years of slave labor.
– Malcolm X
If you’re not ready to die for it, put the word “freedom” out of your vocabulary.
– 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
We black men have a hard enough time in our own struggle for justice, and already have
enough enemies as it is, to make the drastic mistake of attacking each other and adding more
weight to an already unbearable load.
– Malcolm X
The zionist argument to justify Israel’s present occupation of Arab Palestine has no intelligent
or legal basis in history.
– Malcolm X
A new world order is in the making, and it is up to us to prepare ourselves that we may take
our rightful place in it.
– Malcolm X
A ballot is like a bullet. You don’t throw your ballots until you see a target, and if that target
is not in reach, keep your ballot in your pocket.
– Malcolm X
I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don’t believe in brotherhood with anybody
who doesn’t want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I’m not going to
waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn’t know how to return the treatment.
– Malcolm X
Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your
thought pattern, you change your – your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it
changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action.
– Malcolm X
The price of freedom is death.
– Malcolm X
I am and always will be a Muslim. My religion is Islam.
– Malcolm X
One of the things that made the Black Muslim movement grow was its emphasis upon things
African. This was the secret to the growth of the Black Muslim movement. African blood,
African origin, African culture, African ties. And you’d be surprised – we discovered that deep
within the subconscious of the black man in this country, he is still more African than he is
American.
– Malcolm X
The field Negro was beaten from morning to night; he lived in a shack, in a hut; he wore old,
castoff clothes. He hated his master. I say he hated his master. He was intelligent. That
house Negro loved his master, but that field Negro – remember, they were in the majority, and
they hated the master. When the house caught on fire, he didn’t try to put it out; that field
Negro prayed for a wind, for a breeze. When the master got sick, the field Negro prayed that
he’d die. If someone came to the field Negro and said, “Let’s separate, let’s run,” he didn’t say,
“Where we going?” He’d say, “Any place is better than here.”
– Malcolm X
The only true world solution today is governments guided by true religion – of the spirit.
– Malcolm X
Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner, unless you eat 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.
– Malcolm X
Dr. King wants the same thing I want – freedom!
– Malcolm X
We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to
ourselves.
– Malcolm X
It is only after slavery and prison that the sweetest appreciation of freedom can come.
– Malcolm X
You show me a capitalist, and I’ll show you a bloodsucker.
– Malcolm X
We need more light about each other. Light creates understanding, understanding creates
love, love creates patience, and patience creates unity.
– Malcolm X
Usually when people are sad, they don’t do anything. They just cry over their condition. But
when they get angry, they bring about a change.
– Malcolm X
When I’m born I’m black, when I grow up I’m black, when I’m in the sun I’m black, when I’m
sick I’m black, when I die I’m black, and you… When you’re born you’re pink, when you grow
up you’re white, when you’re cold you’re blue, when you’re sick you’re blue, when you die
you’re green and you dare call me colored.
– 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
Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression.
– Malcolm X