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| Malcolm
X Quotes: Best of... | Quotes from Essays and Speeches | Quotes about MLK Jr. and Nonviolence | Misc Quotes | Quotes about Malcolm X |
Quotes from Essays and Speeches Malcolm X, Racism: the Cancer that is Destroying America, in Egyptian Gazette
(Aug. 25 1964).
Malcolm X, Prospects for Freedom in 1965, speech, Jan. 7 1965, New York City
(published in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 12, 1965).
Malcolm X, speech, Dec. 1, 1963, New York City.
Malcolm X, speech, Dec. 12 1964, New York City.
Malcolm X, Message to the Grass Roots, speech, Nov. 1963, Detroit (published
in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 1, 1965).
Malcolm X, Message to the Grass Roots, speech, Nov. 1963, Detroit (published
in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 1, 1965).
Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet, speech, April 3 1964, Cleveland, Ohio
(published in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 3, 1965). Malcolm X, speech, Nov. 1963, New York City.
Malcolm X, Columbia University,
Columbia Daily Spectator, 19 Feb. 1965, p.3 Malcolm X, speech at
Militant Labor Forum, NY, May 29, 1964, in By any means necessary, p. 178
Malcolm X, OAAU, "Homecoming"
speech, Nov. 29, 1964, in By any means, p. 141 Malcolm X, 28 June 1964
at the OAAU Founding Rally, in By any means, p.56
The common goal of 22 million Afro-Americans
is respect as human beings, the God-given right to be a human being. Our common
goal is to obtain the human rights that America has been denying us. We can
never get civil rights in America until our human rights are first restored.
We will never be recognized as citizens there until we are first recognized
as humans.
You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless
he has his freedom.
The Negro revolution is controlled by foxy white liberals, by the Government
itself. But the Black Revolution is controlled only by God.
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.
There is nothing in our book, the Koran, that teaches us to suffer peacefully.
Our religion teaches us to be intelligent. Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the
law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.
That’s a good religion.
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.
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.
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.
It is incorrect to classify the revolt of the Negro as simply a radical conflict
of black against white or as a purely American problem. Rather, we are today seeing
a global rebellion of the oppressed against the oppressor, the exploited against
the exploiter.
Without education, you're not going anywhere in this world.
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.
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, "Homecoming"
speech, Nov. 29, 1964, in By any means, p. 14 0
I would like to point something out so that we'll understand each other better.
I d on't want you to think in the statements I made that I'm being disrespectful
towards you as white people. I'm being frank. And I think that my statements
will give you a better i nsight on the mind of a black man than most statements
you get from most people who call themselves Negroes, who usually tell you what
they want you to hear with the hope . . . that will make them draw closer to
you and create a better possibility of getting from you some of the crumbs that
you might let fall from your table. Well, I'm not looking for cr umbs so I'm
not trying to delude you. Malcolm X, at
Boston University, 24 May 1960
You're the one that the book [Bible] is talking about who is dead : dead to
the kno wledge of yourself, dead to the knowledge of your own people, dead to
the knowledge of yo ur own God, dead to the knwoledge of the devil. Why, you don't
even know who the devil is . You think the devil is someone inside the ground
that's going to burn you after you're dead. The devil is right here on top of
this earth. He's got blue eyes, brown hair, whit e skin, and he's giving you hell
every day. And you're too dead to see it.
Malcolm X,"Unity
Rally" speech, Harlem, Aug. 10, 1963
The same rebellion, the same impatience, the same anger that exists in the
hearts of the dark people in Africa and Asia is existing in the hearts and minds
of 20 million black people in this country who have been just as thoroughly colonized
as the people in Af rica and Asia.
Malcolm X, "Separation
or Integration", March 7, 1962
It is impossible for capitalism to survive, primarily because the system
of capitalism needs some blood to suck. Capitalism used to be like an eagle,
but now it's more like a vulture. It used to be strong enough to go and suck
anybody's blood whether they were strong or not. But now it has become more
cowardly, like the vulture, and it can only suck the blood of the helpless.
As the nations of the world free themselves, the capitalism has less victims,
less to suck, and it becomes weaker and weaker. It's only a matter of time in
my opinion before it will collapse completely. Malcolm X, "Young
Socialist Interview", in By any means, pp. 165-66
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 t his day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means
necessary.
When you go to a chruch and you see the pastor of that church with a philosophy
and a program that's designed to bring black people together and elevate black
people, join that church! If you see where the NAACP is preaching and practising
that which is designed to make black nationalism materialize, join the NAACP.
Join any kind of organization - civic, religious, fraternal, political or otherwise
- that's based on lifting ... the black man up and making him master of his
own community. Malcolm X, "The Ballot or the Bullet", Detroit
I had blind faith in him. My faith in Elijah Muhammad was more blind and more
uncompromising than any faith that any man has ever had for another man. And so
I didn't try and see him as he actually was.
Malcolm X, Audubon Speech, Feb. 15, 1965
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