Malcolm X Quotes 1–30 of 139 Quotes
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, or Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little (19 May 1925 – 21 February 1965) was an African-American Muslim minister and a human rights activist. For many years, he was a major proponent of the Nation of Islam, espousing black supremacy, the separation of black and white Americans, and scoffing at the civil rights movement's emphasis on racial integration. By March 1964, he had grown disillusioned with the Nation of Islam and ultimately repudiated its teachings, embracing Sunni Islam; while continuing to emphasize Pan-Africanism, black self-determination, and black self-defense, disavowing racism. In February 1965, he was assassinated by three men, all of whom were affiliated with the Nation of Islam. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published shortly after his death, is considered one of the most influential non-fiction books of the 20th century.
Below are 30 of 139 sourced Malcolm X quotes. Sources and related information appear under each quote. Use the 'Cite this quote' link to get citation references.
“Anybody that gives even a just criticism of the Jew is instantly labeled antisemite. The Jew cries louder than anybody else if anybody criticizes him. You can tell the truth about any minority in America, but make a true observation about the Jew, and if it doesn’t pat him on the back, then he uses his grip on the news media to label you anti-Semite.”
— Malcolm X
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Quote source: May 1963 interview with Playboy, according to 2007 Dictionary of Antisemitism
“President Kennedy never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon. Being an old farm boy myself, chickens coming home to roost never did make me sad; they've always made me glad.”
— Malcolm X
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Quote source: On the assassination of John F. Kennedy, quoted in New York Times (2 December 1963) "Malcolm X Scores U.S. and Kennedy". p. 21.
“If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there's no progress. If you pull it all the way out that's not progress. Progress is healing the wound that the blow made. And they haven't even pulled the knife out much less heal the wound. They won't even admit the knife is there.”
— Malcolm X
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Quote source: TV interview after 90-day moratorium (March 1964)
“There can be no black-white unity until there is first some black unity. There can be no workers' solidarity until there is first some racial solidarity. We cannot think of uniting with others, until after we have first united among ourselves. We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves. One can't unite bananas with scattered leaves.”
— Malcolm X
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Quote source: A Declaration of Independence (12 March 1964)
“We are African, and we happened to be in America. We're not American. We are people who formerly were Africans who were kidnapped and brought to America. Our forefathers weren't the Pilgrims. We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. The rock was landed on us. We were brought here against our will. We were not brought here to be made citizens. We were not brought here to enjoy the constitutional gifts that they speak so beautifully about today.”
— Malcolm X
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Quote source: Speech at Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (28 June 1964)
“I am surprised that the trouble has been contained to the degree it has. Until two years ago, New York City used wiser methods than any other city to deal with racial problems. Now it is a case of outright scare tactics. This won’t work, because the Negro is not afraid. If the tactics are not changed, this could escalate into something very, very serious.”
— Malcolm X
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Quote source: "Malcolm X Lays Harlem Riot To ‘Scare Tactics’ of Police", The New York Times, July 21, 1964
“They [America] don't practice what they preach, whereas South Africa preaches and practices the same thing. 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
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Quote source: Oxford Union Debate (3 December 1964)
“I don't believe in any form of unjustified extremism! But when a man is exercising extremism — a human being is exercising extremism — in defense of liberty for human beings it's no vice, and when one is moderate in the pursuit of justice for human beings I say he is a sinner.”
— Malcolm X
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Quote source: Oxford Union Debate (3 December 1964)
“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.http://malcolmxfiles.blogspot.com/2013/07/harvard-law-school-forum-december-16.html”
— Malcolm X
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Quote source: Speech at the Harvard Law School Forum (16 December 1964)
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“You get freedom by letting your enemy know that you'll do anything to get your freedom; then you'll get it. It's the only way you'll get it.”
— Malcolm X
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Quote source: Advice to the Youth of Mississippi (31 December 1964)
“Ignorance of each other is what has made unity impossible in the past. Therefore we need enlightenment. We need more light about each other. Light creates understanding, understanding creates love, love creates patience, and patience creates unity. Once we have more knowledge (light) about each other, we will stop condemning each other and a United front will be brought about.”
— Malcolm X
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Quote source: Malcolm X: The Man and his Times, edited by John Henrik Clarke and published by Africa World Press in 1990, p. 304
“If Martin Luther King, Roy Wilkins or any of these compromising Negros who say exactly what the white man wants to hear is interviewed anywhere in the country you don't get anybody to offset what they say. But whenever a black man stands up and says something that white people don't like then the first thing that man does is run around to try and find somebody to say something to offset what has just been said. This is natural but it is done.”
— Malcolm X
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Quote source: TV Interview [date needed], also quoted in Ice Cube: Attitude (2002) by Joel McIver, p. 177
“If I take the wages of everyone here, individually it means nothing, but collectively all of the earning power or wages that you earned in one week would make me wealthy. And if I could collect it for a year, I'd be rich beyond dreams. Now, when you see this, and then you stop and consider the wages that were kept back from millions of Black people, not for one year but for 310 years, you'll see how this country got so rich so fast. And what made the economy as strong as it is today. And all that slave labor that was amassed in unpaid wages, is due someone today. And you're not giving us anything when we say that it's time to collect.”
— Malcolm X
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Quote source: "Twenty million black people in prison," in Malcolm X: The Last Speeches, p. 51
“As long as the white man sent you to Korea, you bled. He sent you to Germany, you bled. He sent you to the South Pacific to fight the Japanese, you bled. You bleed for white people, but when it comes to seeing your own churches being bombed and little black girls murdered, you haven't got any blood. You bleed when the white man says bleed; you bite when the white man says bite; and you bark when the white man says bark. I hate to say this about us, but it's true. How are you going to be nonviolent in Mississippi and Alabama, when your churches are being bombed, and your little girls are being murdered, and at the same time you are going to get violent with Hitler, and Tojo, and somebody else you don't even know?”
— Malcolm X
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Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, Message to the Grass Roots (1963):
Speech at a Northern Negro Grass Roots Leadership Conference, Detroit, Michigan, November 1963)
“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.”
— Malcolm X
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Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, Message to the Grass Roots (1963):
Speech at a Northern Negro Grass Roots Leadership Conference, Detroit, Michigan, November 1963)
“It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means it's too strong. What you do? You integrate it with cream; you make it weak. If you pour too much cream in, 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'll put you to sleep. This is what they did with the march on Washington. They joined it. They didn't integrate it; they infiltrated it. They joined it, became a part of it, took it over. And as they took it over, it lost its militancy. They ceased to be angry. They ceased to be hot. They ceased to be uncompromising. Why, it even ceased to be a march. It became a picnic, a circus. Nothing but a circus, with clowns and all. You had one right here in Detroit — I saw it on television — with clowns leading it, white clowns and black clowns. I know you don’t like what I'm saying, but I’m going to tell you anyway. 'Cause I can prove what I'm saying. If you think I'm telling you wrong, you bring me Martin Luther King and A. Philip Randolph and James Farmer and those other three, and see if they'll deny it over a microphone.”
— Malcolm X
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Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, Message to the Grass Roots (1963):
Speech at a Northern Negro Grass Roots Leadership Conference, Detroit, Michigan, November 1963)
“The question tonight, as I understand it, is "The Negro Revolt, and Where Do We Go From Here? or What Next?" In my little humble way of understanding it, it points toward either the ballot or the bullet.”
— Malcolm X
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Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964):
Speech at Cory Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964))
“I’m not here to argue or discuss anything that we differ about, because it’s time for us to submerge our differences and realize that it is best for us to first see that we have the same problem, a common problem, a problem that will make you catch hell whether you’re a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a Muslim, or a nationalist. Whether you’re educated or illiterate, whether you live on the boulevard or in the alley, you’re going to catch hell just like I am. We’re all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. He just happens to be a white man. All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man.”
— Malcolm X
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Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964):
Speech at Cory Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964))
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“I'm not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing on my plate, and call myself a diner. 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. Why, if birth made you American, you wouldn't need any legislation; you wouldn't need any amendments to the Constitution; you wouldn't be faced with civil-rights filibustering in Washington, D.C., right now.”
— Malcolm X
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Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964):
Speech at Cory Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964))
“No, I’m not an American. I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I’m not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver—no, not I. I’m speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don’t see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.”
— Malcolm X
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Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964):
Speech at Cory Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964))
“What is a Dixiecrat? A Democrat. A Dixiecrat is nothing but a Democrat in disguise. [...] The Dixiecrats in Washington, D.C., control the key committees that run the government. The only reason the Dixiecrats control these committees is because they have seniority. The only reason they have seniority is because they come from states where Negroes can’t vote. This is not even a government that’s based on democracy. It is not a government that is made up of representatives of the people. Half of the people in the South can’t even vote. Eastland is not even supposed to be in Washington. Half of the senators and congressmen who occupy these key positions in Washington, D.C., are there illegally, are there unconstitutionally. These senators and congressmen actually violate the constitutional amendments that guarantee the people of that particular state or county the right to vote. And the Constitution itself has within it the machinery to expel any representative from a state where the voting rights of the people are violated. You don’t even need new legislation. Any person in Congress right now, who is there from a state or a district where the voting rights of the people are violated, that particular person should be expelled from Congress. And when you expel him, you’ve removed one of the obstacles in the path of any real meaningful legislation in this country. In fact, when you expel them, you don’t need new legislation, because they will be replaced by black representatives from counties and districts where the black man is in the majority, not in the minority.”
— Malcolm X
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For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#23
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 5 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#23
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#23
Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964):
Speech at Cory Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964))
“A vote for a Democrat is a vote for a Dixiecrat. That’s why, in 1964, it’s time now for you and me to become more politically mature and realize what the ballot is for; what we’re supposed to get when we cast a ballot; and that if we don’t cast a ballot, it’s going to end up in a situation where we’re going to have to cast a bullet. It’s either a ballot or a bullet.”
— Malcolm X
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#24
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#24
Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964):
Speech at Cory Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964))
“You and I in America are faced not with a segregationist conspiracy, we’re faced with a government conspiracy. Everyone who’s filibustering is a senator—that’s the government. Everyone who’s finagling in Washington, D.C., is a congressman—that’s the government. You don’t have anybody putting blocks in your path but people who are a part of the government. The same government that you go abroad to fight for and die for is the government that is in a conspiracy to deprive you of your voting rights, deprive you of your economic opportunities, deprive you of decent housing, deprive you of decent education. You don’t need to go to the employer alone, it is the government itself, the government of America, that is responsible for the oppression and exploitation and degradation of black people in this country. And you should drop it in their lap. This government has failed the Negro. This so-called democracy has failed the Negro. And all these white liberals have definitely failed the Negro.”
— Malcolm X
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#25
Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964):
Speech at Cory Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964))
“How can you thank a man for giving you what's already yours? How then can you thank him for giving you only part of what's already yours?”
— Malcolm X
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#26
Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964):
Speech at Cory Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964))
“And now you’re facing a situation where the young Negro’s coming up. They don’t want to hear that "turn the-other-cheek" stuff, no. In Jacksonville, those were teenagers, they were throwing Molotov cocktails. Negroes have never done that before. But it shows you there’s a new deal coming in. There’s new thinking coming in. There’s new strategy coming in. It’ll be Molotov cocktails this month, hand grenades next month, and something else next month. It’ll be ballots, or it’ll be bullets. It’ll be liberty, or it will be death. The only difference about this kind of death—it’ll be reciprocal.”
— Malcolm X
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#27
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 5 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#27
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#27
Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964):
Speech at Cory Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964))
“I don’t usually deal with those big words because I don’t usually deal with big people. I deal with small people. I find you can get a whole lot of small people and whip hell out of a whole lot of big people. They haven’t got anything to lose, and they’ve got every thing to gain. And they’ll let you know in a minute: "It takes two to tango; when I go, you go."”
— Malcolm X
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For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#28
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 5 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#28
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#28
Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964):
Speech at Cory Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964))
“Three hundred and ten years we worked in this country without a dime in return—I mean without a dime in return. You let the white man walk around here talking about how rich this country is, but you never stop to think how it got rich so quick. It got rich because you made it rich. [...] Not only did we give of our free labor, we gave of our blood. Every time he had a call to arms, we were the first ones in uniform. We died on every battlefield the white man had. We have made a greater sacrifice than anybody who’s standing up in America today. We have made a greater contribution and have collected less. Civil rights, for those of us whose philosophy is black nationalism, means: "Give it to us now. Don’t wait for next year. Give it to us yesterday, and that’s not fast enough."”
— Malcolm X
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#29
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 5 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#29
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html#29
Source: • Source: Wikiquote: "Malcolm X" (Quotes, The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964):
Speech at Cory Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964))
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html
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Malcolm X (2021, August 5) Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html
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Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 5 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html
MLA Citation: Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Malcolm X. “Malcolm X Quotes: 1–30 of 139 Quotes.” Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Malcolm-X-quotes.html