Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. His full name is El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, also known as Malcolm Little. Malcolm was an American Muslim minister & human rights activist. Malcolm’s teenage years living in a foster home, after his dad’s death and his mom’s hospitalization. He became involved with criminal activity, & being sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Malcolm joined the Nation of Islam, adopted the name, Malcolm X during prison & became one of the organization’s most influential leaders very quickly. Malcolm became a spokesman for the Black Muslims to stop the black race from others & use self-defense to achieve their goals. Malcolm X leaves the Black Muslims Organization, & started his own movement that brings his cause more international attention. But Sadly, Malcolm no longer after his epiphany & didn’t get the opportunity to continue his work because he was assassinated on February 21st, 1965 in a meeting in Harlem.
In his honor, We at Lessons Learned In Life love to share the Malcolm X Quotes of Motivation and Inspiration. We compile the Top Inspiring Malcolm X Quotes for you to be inspired and find them comforting and helpful in your life.
Malcolm X Quotes
1.“What I want to know is how the white man, with the blood of black people dripping off his fingers, can have the audacity to be asking black people [why] they hate him? ” — Malcolm X
2.“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
3.“Yes, I’m an extremist. The black race… is in extremely bad condition. You show me a black man who isn’t an extremist and I’ll show you the one who needs psychiatric attention!” — Malcolm X
4.“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
5.“I find it difficult [to believe] that… Christians accuse [Black Muslims] of teaching racial supremacy or… hatred, because of their own history and… teachings are filled with it.” — Malcolm X
6.“The holiest and most sacred city on earth. The fountain of truth, love, peace, and brotherhood.” — Malcolm X
7.“The white man is afraid of truth… I’m the only black man they’ve ever been close to who they know speaks the truth to them. It’s their guilt that upsets them, not me.” — Malcolm X
8.“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
9.“Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.” — Malcolm X
10.“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
11.“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
12.“People involved in a revolution don’t become part of the system; they destroy the system… The Negro revolution is no revolution because it condemns the system and then asks the system it has condemned to accept them…” — Malcolm X
13.“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom. ” — Malcolm X
14.“Power never takes a back step – only in the face of more power. ” — Malcolm X
15.“The price of freedom is death.” — Malcolm X
16.“Speaking like this doesn’t mean that we’re anti-white, but it does mean we’re anti-exploitation, we’re anti-degradation, we’re anti-oppression.” — Malcolm X
17.“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.” — Malcolm X
18.“Nonviolence is fine as long as it works.” — Malcolm X
19.“I don’t even call it violence when it’s in self-defense; I call it intelligence.” — Malcolm X
20.“Once I was, yes. But now I have turned my direction away from anything that’s racist.” — Malcolm X
21.“My alma mater was books, a good library. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.” — Malcolm X
22.“I believe in human rights for everyone, and none of us is qualified to judge each other and that none of us should, therefore, have that authority.” — Malcolm X
23.“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, Venezuelan Haiti, and Cuba.” — Malcolm X
24.“Dr. King wants the same thing I want. Freedom.” — Malcolm X
25.“I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American black man’s problem just to avoid violence.” — Malcolm X
26.“I am neither a fanatic nor a dreamer. I am a black man who loves peace, and justice, and loves his people.” — Malcolm X
27.“The Negro revolution is controlled by foxy white liberals, by the Government itself. But the Black Revolution is controlled only by God.” — Malcolm X
28.“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
29.“People don’t realize how a man’s whole life can be changed by one book.” — Malcolm X
30.“In all our deeds, the proper value and respect for time determine success or failure.” — Malcolm X
31.“Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny, because the power of a just cause is based on conviction, and leads to resolute and uncompromising action.” — Malcolm X
32.“Concerning nonviolence, it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks.” — Malcolm X
33.“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.” — Malcolm X
34.“I believe in the brotherhood of all men, but I don’t believe in wasting brotherhood on anyone who doesn’t want to practice it with me. Brotherhood is a two-way street.” — Malcolm X
35.“They put your mind right in a bag, and take it wherever they want.” — Malcolm X
36.“I believe in a religion that believes in freedom. Any time I have to accept a religion that won’t let me fight a battle for my people, I say to hell with that religion.” — Malcolm X
37.“I don’t see an American Dream, I see an American Nightmare.” — Malcolm X
38.“What is a Dixiecrat? A Democrat. A Dixiecrat is nothing but a Democrat in disguise.” — Malcolm X
39.“I’m the man you think you are. If you want to know what I’ll do, figure out what you’ll do. I’ll do the same thing–only more of it.” — Malcolm X
40.“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
41.“Being an old farm boy myself, chickens coming home to roost never did make me sad; they’ve always made me glad.” — Malcolm X
42.“We are nonviolent with people who are nonviolent with us.” — Malcolm X
43.“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.” — Malcolm X
44.“To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace.” — Malcolm X
45.“When ghetto living seems normal, you have no shame, no privacy.” — Malcolm X
46.“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
47.“My black brothers and sisters – of all religious beliefs, or of no religious beliefs – we all have in common the greatest binding tie we could have. We are all black people!” — Malcolm X
48.“It’s hard for anyone intelligent to be nonviolent.” — Malcolm X
49.“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.” — Malcolm X
50.“Do you know what integration really means? It means intermarriage. That’s the real point behind it. You can’t have it without intermarriage. And that would result in disintegration of both races.” — Malcolm X