It is necessary to know who Malcolm X was before we look at some famous Malcolm X quotes.
Malcolm X was one of the most powerful African Americans in history. Also, you should know that he was an important leader of African American civil rights movement in the Black history of America, a human rights activist, and an American Muslim minister.
The Nation of Islam grew from a negligible 400 members in 1952 to 40,000 in 1960 for his massive efforts because he was a leading speaker for years in the Nation of Islam. But eventually, he left.
Do you know Malcolm X has been a popular subject for many movies, stage plays, and other works? Actors like James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, and Mario Van Peebles have portrayed him.
He was also an activist and advocate for the Black National movement, which mostly concentrated on the racial pride of Africans and their self-defense, social and economic empowerment. After his assassination, his great life story, legacy, and Malcolm X Quotes influenced millions worldwide.
Popular 10 Malcolm X Quotes
1. “You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”
2. “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
3. “I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it’s for or against.”
4. “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.”
5. “You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”
6. “Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression.”
7. “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
8. “Change is only a good thing if you change in a good way.”
9. “The only way we’ll get freedom for ourselves is to identify ourselves with every oppressed people in the world.”
10. “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 Quotes On Love For Humanity
1. “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.”
2. “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 the next time.”
3. “I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it’s for or against.”
4. “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
5. “My alma mater was books, a good library. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.”
6. “If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success.”
7. “True Islam taught me that it takes all of the religious, political, economic, psychological, and racial ingredients, or characteristics, to make the Human Family and the Human Society complete.”
8. “I have more respect for a man who lets me know where he stands, even if he’s wrong, than the one who comes up like an angel and is nothing but a devil.”
9. “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.”
10. “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.
Malcolm X Quotes On Education
1. “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
2. “Without education, you’re not going anywhere in this world.”
3. “My alma mater was books, a good library. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.”
4. “You can’t legislate good will – that comes through education.”
5. “Only the mistakes have been mine, the rest has been due to others, and for their many contributions I am deeply grateful.”
6. “The ability to read awoke inside of me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.”
7. “No matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn.”
8. “Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.”
9. “I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading opened to me.”
10. “Early in life I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.”
Malcolm X Quotes On Freedom And Justice
1. “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.”
2. “You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”
3. “Power in defense of freedom is greater than power on behalf of tyranny and oppression.”
4. “We declare our right on this earth to be a man, 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.”
5. “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.”
6. “If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us, and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.”
7. “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.”
8. “The day that the black man takes an uncompromising step and realizes that he’s within his rights, when his own freedom is being jeopardized, to use any means necessary to bring about his freedom or put a halt to that injustice, I don’t think he’ll be by himself.”
9. “Dr. King wants the same thing I want — freedom!”
10. “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.”
11. “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.”
12. “We are nonviolent with people who are nonviolent with us.”
13. “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.”
14. “I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those that do the oppressing. 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.”
15. “To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal. You see, I could conceive death, but I could not conceive betrayal.”
16. “Truth is on the side of the oppressed.”
17. “Anytime you have to rely upon your enemy for a job you’re in bad shape.”
18. “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.”
19. “It is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks. It is legal and lawful to own a shotgun or a rifle. We believe in obeying the law.”
20. “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 Quotes On Respect And Equality
1. “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.”
2. “Stumbling is not falling.”
3. “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 the next time.”
4. “We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves.”
5. “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.”
6. “You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.”
7. “I believe in recognizing every human being as a human being – neither white, black, brown, or red; and when you are dealing with humanity as a family there’s no question of integration or intermarriage. It’s just one human being marrying another human being or one human being living around and with another human being.”
8. “If you have a dog, I must have a dog. If you have a rifle, I must have a rifle. If you have a club, I must have a club. This is equality.”
9. “It doesn’t mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time, I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don’t call it violence when it’s self-defense, I call it intelligence.”
10. “We need more light about each other. Light creates understanding, understanding creates love, love creates patience, and patience creates unity.