Quotes from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Malcolm X ·  466 pages

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“The main thing you got to remember is that everything in the world is a hustle.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“So early in my life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“Hence 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.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“The ability to read awoke inside of me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“Why am I as I am? To understand that of any person, his whole life, from
Birth must be reviewed. All of our experiences fuse into our personality. Everything that ever happened to us is an ingredient.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X



“Children have a lesson adults should learn, to not be ashamed of failing, but to get up and try again. Most of us adults are so afraid, so cautious, so 'safe,' and therefore so shrinking and rigid and afraid that it is why so many humans fail. Most middle-aged adults have resigned themselves to failure.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“And because I had been a hustler, I knew better than all whites knew, and better than nearly all of the black 'leaders' knew, that actually the most dangerous black man in America was the ghetto hustler. Why do I say this? The hustler, out there in the ghetto jungles, has less respect for the white power structure than any other Negro in North America. The ghetto hustler is internally restrained by nothing. He has no religion, no concept of morality, no civic responsibility, no fear--nothing. To survive, he is out there constantly preying upon others, probing for any human weakness like a ferret. The ghetto hustler is forever frustrated, restless, and anxious for some 'action'. Whatever he undertakes, he commits himself to it fully, absolutely. What makes the ghetto hustler yet more dangerous is his 'glamour' image to the school-dropout youth in the ghetto.These ghetto teen-agers see the hell caught by their parents struggling to get somewhere, or see that they have given up struggling in the prejudiced, intolerant white man’s world. The ghetto teen-agers make up their own minds they would rather be like the hustlers whom they see dressed ‘sharp’ and flashing money and displaying no respect for anybody or anything. So the ghetto youth become attracted to the hustler worlds of dope, thievery, prostitution, and general crime and immorality.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“I'm sorry to say that the subject I most disliked was mathematics. I have thought about it. I think the reason was that mathematics leaves no room for argument. If you made a mistake, that was all there was to it.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“I believe in recognizing every human being as a human being--neither white, black, brown, or red; and when you are dealing with humanity as a family there's no question of integration or intermarriage. It's just one human being marrying another human being or one human being living around and with another human being.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“In fact, once he is motivated no one can change more completely than the man who has been at the bottom. I call myself the best example of that.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X



“Don't condemn if you see a person has a dirty glass of water, just show them the clean glass of water that you have. When they inspect it, you won't have to say that yours is better."
-said by Elijah Muhammad to Malcolm X”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“Anytime you find someone more successful than you are, especially when you're both engaged in the same business - you know they're doing something that you aren't.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land--every color, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike--all snored in the same language.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“It is only after slavery and prison that the sweetest appreciation of freedom can come. ”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“One day, may we all meet together in the light of understanding.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X



“Despite my firm convictions, I have been always a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“لقد تعلمت باكراَ إن الحق لا يعطي لمن يسكت عنه, وإن على المرء أن يحدث بعض الضجيج إن أراد أن يحصل على شيء”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“I saw all races, all colors, blue eyed blonds to black skinned Africans in true brotherhood! In unity! Living as one! Worshiping as one! No segregationists, no liberals; they would not have known how to interpret the meaning of those words”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“هنا يرقد رجل اصفر قتله رجل اسود في حرب رجل أبيض كان قد قتل كل الرجال الحمر”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“ارى ان السجن يأتي بعد الجامعة مباشرة كأنسب مكان لمن يريد ان يفكر”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X



“This was my first lesson about gambling: if you see somebody winning all the time, he isn't gambling, he's cheating. Later on in life, if I were continuously losing in any gambling situation, I would watch very closely.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“I’ve had enough of someone else’s propaganda… I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“لا يدرك الناس أن كتابا واحدا قد يغير حياة انسان”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“I learned early that crying out in protest could accomplish things. My older brothers and sister had started to school when, sometimes, they would come in and ask for a buttered biscuit or something and my mother, impatiently, would tell them no. But I would cry out and make a fuss until I got what I wanted. I remember well how my mother asked me why I couldn't be a nice boy like Wilfred; but I would think to myself that Wilfred, for being so nice and quiet, often stayed hungry. So early in life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“When I am dead--I say it that way because from the things I know, I do not expect to live long enough to read this book in its finished form--I want you to just watch and see if I'm not right in what I say: that the white man, in his press, is going to identify me with "hate". He will make use of me dead, as he has made use of me alive, as a convenient symbol, of "hatred"--and that will help him escape facing the truth that all I have been doing is holding up a mirror to reflect, to show, the history of unspeakable crimes that his race has committed against my race.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X



“I imagine that one of the biggest troubles with colleges is there are too many distractions, too much panty-raiding, fraternities, and boola-boola and all of that.”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“إن الناس لا تعرف أن كتاباً واحداً كفيلاً بأن يغير مجرى حياة الإنسان”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“إنني لا أحتمل شخصاَ لايحمل الساعة لأن ذلك يوضح لي إنه لا يقدر الوقت”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


“انني كنت أسفل سافلين في قاع المجتمع الأمريكي عندما اهتديت الى الله و الى الإسلام تغير مجرى حياتي”
― Malcolm X, quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X


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About the author

Malcolm X
Born place: in Omaha, Nebraska, The United States
Born date May 19, 1925
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