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Malcolm X Quotes

These are some of my favourite Malcolm X quotes. I have tended to come away from the typical Malcolm quotes which depict him as a racist black nationalist during his ignorant days with the Nation Of Islam (NOI) which can be seen ever so regulary on web pages today. In my eyes, Malcolm has been a man who was never involved in any non violence whatsoever, although he was prepared to fight 'by any means necesary' for his godgiven right to be treated as a human being.

These Quotes will be regulary updated when time permits, more quotes will be added. I am hoping to make a comprehensive collection of Malcolm X quotes. Some of these pics will also be changes with higher quality photos also.

Malcolm On Himself:

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.

MX, NYC, 19 February 1965

Malcolm On Himself:

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.

MX, "Homecoming" speech, 29 Nov. 1964, in By any means, p. 140

Malcolm On Martin Luther King Jr:

 I'll say nothing against him. At one time the whites in the United States called him a racialist, and extremist, and a Communist. Then the Black Muslims came along and the whites thanked the Lord for Martin Luther King.

MX, to 300 Islamic students, Manchester Guardian Weekly,

10 Dec. 1964, p.6

Malcolm On Non-Violence:

 We have never been involved in any kind of violence whatsoever. We have never initiated any violence against anyone, but we do believe that when violence is practiced against us we should be able to defend ourselves. We don't believe in turning the other cheek.

Taken From: Historical Speeches Homepage. Interview By: A.B. Spellman

Malcolm On Christian-Gandhian philosophy :

 I don't go for anyhing that's nonviolent and turn-the-other-cheekish. I don't see how any revolution, I've never heard of a nonviolent revolution or a revolution that was brought about by turning the other cheek, and so I believe that it is a crime for anyone to teach a person who is being brutalized to continue to accept that brutality without doing something to defend himself.

Taken From: Historical Speeches Homepage. Interview By: A.B. Spellman
Malcolm On USA and South Africa:

The only difference between it (America) and South Africa: South Africa preaches seperation and practices seperation; America preaches integration and practices segregation....I have more respect for a man who lets me know where he stands, even if he is wrong, than one who comes up to like an angel and is nothing but a devil.

MX, Oxford University, December 3, 1964

Malcolm On Comprimise:

 You comprimise when you're wrong. You dont have to comprimise when you're right. Why, your right. They're not giving you something. This is yours.

MX, Discussion with young freedom fighters from Mississippi, January 1, 1965

Malcolm On Thinking For Yourself:

 ...One of the first things I think young people should learn how to do is see for yourself and listen for yourself, and think for yourself. But if you form the habit of going by what you hear others think about someone, instead of going and searching for yourself and seeing for yourself, you'll be walking East when you think you're going West.....Its good to keep wide-open ears and listen to what everybody else else has to say, but when you come to make a decision, you have to weigh all of what you've heard on its own, and place it where it belongs, and then come to a decision for yourself. You'll never regret it. But if you form the habit of taking what someone else says about a thing without checking it out for yourself, you'll find that other people will have you hating your own friends and loving your enemies

MX, Discussion with young freedom fighters from Mississippi, January 1, 1965

Malcolm On Ancestry:

 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.

MX, Harlem,cited in Goldman,"The Death and Life of MalcolmX", p.157

Malcolm On Freedom

 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.

MX,to Harlem blacks,in By any means,p. 140

Malcolm On Preference

As between the racists and the integrationists, I highly prefer the racists. I'd rather walk among rattlesnakes, whose constant rattle warns me where they are, than among those Northern snakes who grin and make you forget you're still in a snake pit.

MX, Playboy Interview, May 1963

 

Malcolm On Judgement

 I, myself, do not judge a man by the color of his skin. The yardstick that I use to judge a man is his deeds, his behavior, his intentions.

MX, Playboy Interview, May 1963

  One of the best ways to propagate any idea is with a publication of some sort, and if Allah blesses us with success we will have another publication. We'll probably name it the Flaming Crescent because we want to set the world on fire

Malcolm X; By Any Means Necessary;

Malcolm On Revolution

 (A) Revolution is like a forest fire. It burns everything in its path. The people who are involved in a revolution don't become a part of the system, they destroy the system, they change the system. The genuine word for a revolution is Umwaelzung which means a complete overturning and a complete change, and the Negro revolution is no revolution because it condemns the system and then asks the system that it has condemned to accept them into their system

Malcolm X; By Any Means Necessary;

 

WARNING: THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH MAY OFFEND SOME SENSITIVE VIEWERS. IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY PICTURES OF THE DEAD, PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON TH LINK BELOW.

Out of no disrespect to Brother Malcolm, a picture of Malcolm X in the morgue.

Malcolm In Morgue

 

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