We can describe Malcolm X in many ways: Rebel.
He was a great man, and that essence is captured in these inspirationalMalcolm X Quotes.
you might also check out the bestDalai Lama quotesandTupac quotesfor more inspirational sayings!
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Malcolm X excelled at school and wanted to become a lawyer.
However, racism, limited opportunities, and a disparaging teacher caused Malcolm to drop out.
He became involved in crime, leading to an arrest and later a prison sentence.
Prison introduced a young Malcolm X to new ideas and people.
Hed eventually leave the NOI in 1964, disillusioned with its leader and scripture.
His once dogmatic views also began to shift towards integration and new solutions.
However, the story of Malcolm X was tragically cut short.
He was assassinated on February 21, 1965, by members of the NOI.
12 Famous Malcolm X Quotes
Malcolm X was an unapologetic advocate for black empowerment.
He was a skilled orator who used his voice for change.
Here are 12 famous Malcolm X quotes collected across his career:
1.
You dont have to be a man to fight for freedom.
All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.
You cant separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.
There is no better than adversity.
Itll be the ballot, or itll be the bullet.
Itll be liberty, or itll be death.
And if youre not ready to pay that price, dont use the word freedom in your vocabulary.
Any time you beg another man to set you free, you will never be free.
Freedom is something that you have to do for yourselves.
Thats the only thing that can save this country.
8 The main thing you got to remember is that everything in the world is a hustle.
A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire…or preserve his freedom.
It happens to so many thousands of black youth.
Its the only way youll get it.
Truth does not change, only our awareness of it.
The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.
If you have no critics, youll likely have no success.
Change is only a good thing if you change in a good way.
Stumbling is not falling.
Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the gun down.
Anytime you rely on your enemy for a job, youre in bad shape.
It is only after the deepest darkness that the greatest joy can come.
A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.
To have once been a criminal is no disgrace.
To remain a criminal is the disgrace.
Time is more important to me than distance.
A man curses because he doesnt have the words to say whats on his mind.
He wanted to shift the conversation of civil rights in America to an international concern, amongst other aspirations.
Here are 8 amazing quotes from Malcolm X about equality:
26.
Human rights are something you were born with.
Human rights are the rights that are recognized by all nations of this earth.
And any time anyone violates your human rights, you could take them to the world court.
If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad.
I am not a racist.
Im against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination.
It is only after slavery and prison that the sweetest appreciation of freedom can come.
Early in life, I learned that if you want something, you better make some noise.
How is it possible to write ones autobiography in a world so fast-changing as this?
People involved in a revolution dont become part of the system; they destroy the system.
8 Malcolm X Quotes on Love and Community
Malcolm X was an extremely private man.
We go in-depth about both subjects in our favoritefamily quotesandrelationships quotes.
For passionate sayings from Malcolm X, check out these 8 quotes:
34.
We need more light about each other.
Light creates understanding, understanding creates love, love creates patience, and patience creates unity.
We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves.
The only way well 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, Cubayes, Cuba too.
Brotherhood is a two-way street.
No man has believed perfectly until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.
Culture is an indispensable weapon in the freedom struggle.
We must take hold of it and forge the future with the past.
To many African Americans, his frank statements about violence and injustice were more representative of their hardships.
Regardless of what couldve been, the following 10 quotes communicated an unfiltered truth:
42.
Power never takes a back steponly in the face of more power.
We are nonviolent with people who are nonviolent with us.
The white man is not inherently evil, but Americas racist society influences him to act evilly.
Were not Americans; were Africans who happen to be in America.
We were kidnapped and brought here against our will from Africa.
We didnt land on Plymouth Rock.
Plymouth Rock landed on us.
I dont even call it violence when its in self-defense; I call it intelligence.
Usually, when people are sad, they dont do anything.
They just cry over their condition.
But when they get angry, they bring about a change.
After leaving the Nation of Islam, he traveled the globe.
This, combined with his already prolific persona in the USA, helped develop aunique perspective on life.
If you need some wisdom, then look no further than these 6 quotes from Malcolm X:
52.
In all our deeds, the proper value and respect for time determines success or failure.
I feel like a man who has been asleep somewhat and under someone elses control.
I feel that what Im thinking and saying is now for myself.
In any organization, someone must be the boss.
If its even just one person, youve got to be the boss of yourself.
To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal.
You see, I could conceive death, but I could not conceive betrayal.
8 Malcolm X Quotes on The Importance of Education
Malcolm X believed inself-improvement through education.
Here are 8 of our favorite quotes from Malcolm X about education:
58.
My alma mater was books, a good library…
I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.
People dont realize how a mans whole life can be changed by one book.
I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading has opened to me.
I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life.
Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.
You cant legislate good will that comes through education.
The black man in America has to lift up his own sense of values.
Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights.
It is the means to help our children and thereby increase self-respect.
Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.
Without education, youre not going anywhere in this world.
If you are in a country that is progressive, the woman is progressive.
He didnt careabout what others thought of him.
Malcolm X held onto his beliefs, even in the face of harassment and death threats.
The medias the most powerful entity on earth.
They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and thats power.
Because they control the minds of the masses.
History is a peoples memory, and without a memory, a man is demoted to the lower animals.
There was a time when you didnt know what you know today.
They put your mind right in a bag and take it wherever they want.
Youre not to be so blind with patriotism that you cant face reality.
Ive had enough of someone elses propaganda… Im for truth, no matter who tells it.
I am for justice, no matter who it is for or against.
And I see America through the eyes of the victim.
I dont see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.
The greatest mistake of the movement has been trying to organize a sleeping people around specific goals.
You have to wake the people up first, then youll get action.
Final Thoughts on Malcolm X
The story of Malcolm X is one of change.
For historians, his philosophy offers a unique perspective on the Civil Rights Movement.
However, for critics, he was a radical who did more harm than good.
What are your favorite Malcolm X quotes?
Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
