Malcolm X Quotes About Freedom, Equality and Life

Niraj Patel

malcolm x quotes

Malcolm X (May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim religious leader and human rights activist who was a popular figure during the black American civil rights movement. He is known for his controversial advocacy for the rights of blacks; Some consider him to be a man who, in the harshest terms, blamed white America for crimes against black Americans, while others accused him of promoting racism and violence. Below we present a collection of quotes by Malcolm X about freedom, equality and life that every black person should know.

Malcolm X Quotes

  • “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.”
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  • “My alma mater was books, a good library… I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.”
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  • “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.”
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  • “I have no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up under the weight.”
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Malcolm X quotes for students

“Without education, you’re not going anywhere in this world.”

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  • “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.”
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  • “Right now, in every big city ghetto, tens of thousands of yesterday’s and today’s school dropouts are keeping body and soul together by some form of hustling in the same way I did.”
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  • “All of us—who might have probed space, or cured cancer, or built industries—were, instead, black victims of the white man’s American social system.”
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  • “When ghetto living seems normal, you have no shame, no privacy.”
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  • “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”
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  • “You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.”
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  • “It is only after slavery and prison that the sweetest appreciation of freedom can come. ”
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  • “The hardest test I ever faced in my life was praying.”
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  • “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
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  • “Power never takes a back step – only in the face of more power. ”
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  • “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.”
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  • “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.”
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  • “Early in life I learned that if you want something, you better make some noise.”
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  • “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.”
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  • “In all our deeds, the proper value and respect for time determines success or failure.”
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malcolm x quotes on violence

“I don’t advocate violence; but if a man steps on my toes, I’ll step on his…”

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  • “People don’t realize how a man’s whole life can be changed by one book.”
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  • “If you turn the other cheek, you can be enslaved for 1,000 years.”
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  • “Concerning nonviolence, it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks.”
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  • “Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.”
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  • “If you have no critics, you’ll likely have no success.”
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  • “You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.”
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  • “You can’t have capitalism without racism.”
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You may also like: Top Inspiring Personal Freedom Quotes

  • “I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don’t see any American dream–I see an American nightmare.”
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  • “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.”
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  • “We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves.”
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  • “Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the Gun down.”
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  • “A wise man can play the part of a clown, but a clown can’t play the part of a wise man.”
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  • “It’s hard for anyone intelligent to be nonviolent.”
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  • “In any organization, someone must be the boss. If it’s even just one person, you’ve got to be the boss of yourself.”
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  • “And just because you have colleges and universities doesn’t mean you have education.”
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Malcolm X quotes on freedom

“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.”

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  • “I want to take Negroes out of the ghetto and put them in good neighborhoods in good houses.”
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  • “You can’t legislate good will – that comes through education.”
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  • “Read absolutely everything you get your hands on because you’ll never know where you’ll get an idea from…”
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  • “Even Samson, the world’s strongest man, was destroyed by the woman who slept in his arms. she was the one whose words hurt him.”
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  • “They cripple the bird‘s wing, and then condemn it for not flying as fast as they.”
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  • “Segregation is that which is forced upon an inferior by a superior. Separation is done voluntarily by two equals.”
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  • “You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”
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  • “Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression.”
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  • “A man curses because he doesn’t have the words to say what’s on his mind.”
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  • “You will never catch me with a free fifteen minutes in which I’m not studying something I feel might be able to help the black man.”
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  • “Time is more important to me then distance”
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  • “No man has believed perfectly until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
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  • “No one will know who we are… until we now who we are! We will be able to go anywhere until we know where we are!”
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  • “It is the process of mis-education that inhibits the full potential of a nation.”
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  • “If you are born in America with a black skin, you’re in prison”
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  • If something is yours by right, then fight for it or shut up.”
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  • “[S]ociety has produced and nourishes a psychology which brings out the lowest, most base part of human beings.”
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  • Either you are a citizen or you are not a citizen at all. If you are a citizen, you are free; if you’re not a citizen you are a slave.”
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  • “Change is only a good thing if you change in a good way.”
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  • “In all our deeds, the proper value and respect for time determine success or failure.”
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  • “I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color”
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  • “Hatred and anger are powerless when met with kindness.”
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  • “It is only after the deepest darkness that the greatest joy can come”
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  • “Truth does not change, only our awareness of it.”
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  • “To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal. You see, I could conceive death, but I could not conceive betrayal.”
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  • One day, may we all meet together in the light of understanding.”
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About Niraj Patel

Meet Nitesh, poet at heart and a creative mind behind the magic of WishBae.Com. He specializes in quotes, wishes, and Instagram captions. On his author page, you can find some words of wisdom, quality captions for your Instagram and quotes from well known people that are worth reading. Join the journey of inspiration and positivity through Nitesh's captivating words.

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