Quotessence
Home / Books / The Autobiography of Malcolm X

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Book by Malcolm X · 48 quotes · Men, White, Black

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenWhiteBlackPeopleIfsWhite ManAmericaRaceBookHas BeensMeccaIslamReadingBrotherDyingKnowsProblemTodayTruthWay

The Autobiography of Malcolm X Quotes

“In the past, yes, I have made sweeping indictments of all white people. I never will be guilty of that again - as I know now that some white people are truly sincere, that some truly are capable of being brotherly toward a black man. The true Islam has shown me that a blanket indictment of all white people is as wrong as when whites made blanket indictments against blacks.”

PeopleKnowsMenMadePastBlackWhiteCapableIslamGuiltySincereBlanketSweepingBrotherlyIndictment
Book:The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Create image

“Since Western society is deteriorating, it has become overrun with immorality, and God is going to judge it, and destroy it. And the only way the black people caught up in this society can be saved is not to integrate into this corrupt society, but to separate from it, to a land of our own, where we can reform ourselves, lift up our moral standards and try to be godly.”

PeopleWayTryingBlackMoralLandJudgingStandardsWesternCaughtSavedReformLiftsBlack PeopleIntegrationCaught UpGodlyIntegratingImmoralityThis SocietyWestern SocietyDeterioratingCorrupt Society
Book:The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Create image

“The black man in North America was sickest of all politically. He let the white man divide him into such foolishness as considering himself a black 'Democrat,' a black 'Republican,' a black 'Conservative,' or a black 'Liberal' ...when a ten-million black vote bloc could be the deciding balance of power in American politics, because the white man's vote is almost always evenly divided.”

MenAmericaPoliticsBlackWhiteMillionsBalanceRepublicanTenVoteDemocratConservativeDividedDividesConsideringFoolishnessWhite ManAmerican PoliticsNorth AmericaBalance Of Power
Book:The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Create image

“I know that societies often have killed people who have helped to change those societies. And if I can die having brought any light, having exposed any meaningful truth that will help destroy the racist cancer that is malignant in the body of America, then, all credit is due to Allah. Only the mistakes have been mine.”

PeopleIfsKnowsHas BeensI CanHelpingWisdomBodyLightAmericaDiesMistakeMinesCancerCreditDuesMeaningfulIslamicRacistExposed
Book:The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Create image

“During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept on the same rug - while praying to the same God - with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the deeds of the white Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana.”

WorldEyePastFeltBlackWhiteHairPrayingSkinsBlueFellowsGlassesDeedsDrunkSincerityPlatesElevenNigeriaMeccaMuslim WorldSudanGhanaHajj
Book:The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Create image

“For the white man to ask the black man if he hates him is just like the rapist asking the raped, or the wolf asking the sheep, 'Do you hate me?' The white man is in no moral position to accuse anyone else of hate! Why, when all of my ancestors are snake-bitten, and I'm snake-bitten, and I warn my children to avoid snakes, what does that snake sound like accusing me of hate-teaching?”

PeopleIfsMenChildrenDoeHateAsksSoundBlackWhiteMoralTeachingPositionAskingMy ChildrenAncestorSheepWhite ManSnakesHate MeHate HimAccusingYou Hate MeAccusing Me
Book:The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Create image

“Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and the overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colours and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad, and all the other prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colours.”

PeopleHas BeensHomePastSpiritRaceWeekLandHolyAncientScriptureProphetColourSincereOverwhelmingBrotherhoodHospitalityMuhammadAbrahamHoly ScripturesGraciousnessMeccaSpeechlessHoly LandTrue Brotherhood
Book:The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Create image

“A Negro just can't be whipped by somebody white and return with his head up in the neighborhood, especially in those days, when sports and, to a lesser extent show business, were the only fields open to Negroes, and when the ring was the only place a Negro could whip a white man and not be lynched.”

MenShowsSportsWhiteFieldsReturnRingsReputationNeighborhoodWhite ManShow BusinessWhipsHeads Up
Book:The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Create image

“I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading opened to me. I knew right there, in prison, that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive. I certainly wasn’t seeking any degree, the way a college confers a status symbol upon its students. My home made education gave me, with every additional book that I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting the black race in America. Not long ago, an English writer telephoned me from London asking questions. One was, “What’s your alma mater?” I told him, “Books.” 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.”

HopeReadingRaceEducationBooksRacismPrisonPrison Industrial Complex
Book:The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Create image

“All of that Hollywood stuff! Like these women wanting men to pick them up and carry them across thresholds and some of them weigh more than you do. I don't know how many marriage breakups are caused by these movie and television addicted women expecting some bouquets and kissing and hugging and being swept out like Cinderella for dinner and dancing then getting mad when a poor, scraggly husband comes in tired and sweaty from working like a dog all day, looking for some food. ~Malcolm X”

RelationshipsMarriageIslamHollywood Culture
Book:The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Create image

“Conservatism" in America's politics means "Let's keep the niggers in their place." And "liberalism" means "Let's keep the knee-grows in their place-but tell them we'll treat them a little better; let's fool them more, with more promises." With these choices, I felt that the American black man only needed to choose which one to be eaten by, the "liberal" fox or the "conservative" wolf-because both of them would eat him. I didn't go for Goldwater any more than for Johnson-except that in a wolf's den, I'd always known exactly where I stood; I'd watch the dangerous wolf closer than I would the smooth, sly fox. The wolf's very growling would keep me alert and fighting him to survive, whereas I might be lulled and fooled by the tricky fox. I'll give you an illustration of the fox. When the assassination in Dallas made Johnson President, who was the first person he called for? It was for his best friend, "Dicky"-Richard Russell of Georgia. Civil rights was "a moral issue," Johnson was declaring to everybody-while his best friend was the Southern racist who led the civil rights opposition. How would some sheriff sound, declaring himself so against bank robbery-and Jesse James his best friend? How would some sheriff sound, declaring himself so against bank robbery-and Jesse James his best friend? Goldwater as a man, I respected for speaking out his true convictions-something rarely done in politics today. He wasn't whispering to racists and smiling at integrationists. I felt Goldwater wouldn't have risked his unpopular stand without conviction. He flatly told black men he wasn't for them-and there is this to consider: always, the black people have advanced further when they have seen they had to rise up against a system that they clearly saw was outright against them. Under the steady lullabies sung by foxy liberals, the Northern Negro became a beggar. But the Southern Negro, facing the honestly snarling white man, rose up to battle that white man for his freedom-long before it happened in the North. Anyway, I didn't feel that Goldwater was any better for black men than Johnson, or vice-versa. I wasn't in the United States at election time, but if I had been, I wouldn't have put myself in the position of voting for either candidate for the Presidency, or of recommending to any black man to do so. It has turned out that it's Johnson in the White House-and black votes were a major factor in his winning as decisively as he wanted to. If it had been Goldwater, all I am saying is that the black people would at least have known they were dealing with an honestly growling wolf, rather than a fox who could have them half-digested before they even knew what was happening.”

Malcolm X AutobiographyMalcolm X LiberalsMalcolm X White LiberalsMalcolm X ConservativesMalcolm X GoldwaterMalcolm X Johnson
Book:The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Create image