"If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything."
— Malcolm X

"My alma mater was books, a good library.... I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity."
— Malcolm X

"People don't realize how a man's whole life can be changed by one book."
— Malcolm X (The Autobiography of Malcolm X)

"Truth is on the side of the oppressed."
— Malcolm X

"We need more light about each other. Light creates understanding, understanding creates love, love creates patience, and patience creates unity."
— Malcolm X

"Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery."
— Malcolm X

"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 is yours?"
— Malcolm X

"“We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves.”"
— 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 (The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley)

""I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but i don't believe in brotherhood with anybody who doesn't want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but i'm not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn't know how to return the treatment" "
— Malcolm X

"To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace"
— Malcolm X

"It is only after slavery and prison that the sweetest appreciation of freedom can come. "
— Malcolm X (The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley)

"Times change so quickly that if you and I don't keep up with the times, we'll find ourselves with an umbrella in our hand, over our head, when the sun is out. Or we'll find ourselves standing in the rain, with the umbrella inside the door."
— Malcolm X

""We declare our right on this earth
to be a human being, to be respected
as a human being, to be given the rights
of a human being in this society,
on this earth, in this day, which
we intend to bring into existence
by any means necessary.""
— Malcolm X

""The examined life is painful." -Socrates

BUT

"The unexamined life is not worth living." -Malcolm X"
— Socrates and Malcolm X

"The main thing you got to remember is that everything in the world is a hustle."
— Alex Haley (The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley)

"I don't even call it violence when it's in self defense; I call it intelligence."
— Malcolm X

"I always tell my students that Malcolm X came both to his spirituality and to his consciousness as a thinker when he had solitude to read. Unfortunately, tragically, like so many young black males, that solitude only came in prison."
— bell hooks

"We love because it's the only true adventure."
— Nikki Giovanni

"And Sometimes I Sit

and sometimes I sit
down at my typewriter
and I think
not of someone
cause there isn't anyone
to think
about and i wonder
is it worth it"
— Nikki Giovanni

"Mistakes are a fact of life: It is the response to the error that counts."
— Nikki Giovanni

"Don't want to be near you for the thoughts we share but the words we never have to speak."
— Nikki Giovanni

"Don't ever be afraid to come to me n cry don't ever hesitae to look me in the eye don' ever be afraid to tell me how you feel. remember your my girl n we gotta keep it real."
— Nikki Giovanni

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
— Maya Angelou

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
— Maya Angelou

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
— Maya Angelou

"The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them."
— Maya Angelou

"Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it."
— Maya Angelou

"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights."
— Maya Angelou

""My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style" "
— Maya Angelou

" Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me."
— Maya Angelou

"I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life." I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
— Maya Angelou

"Still I Rise


You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise."
— Maya Angelou

"I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better."
— Maya Angelou

"If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?"
— Maya Angelou

"We need much less than we think we need."
— Maya Angelou

"When you learn, teach, when you get, give."
— Maya Angelou

"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels, lifes a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass."
— Maya Angelou

"A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.
"
— Maya Angelou

"Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean."
— Maya Angelou

"Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet"
— Maya Angelou

"Most people don't grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging.
"
— Maya Angelou

"Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life."
— Maya Angelou

"Had I known that the heart breaks slowly, dismantling itself into unrecognizable plots of misery... had I known yet I would have loved you, your brash and insolent beauty, your heavy comedic face and knowledge of sweet delights, but from a distance I would have left you whole and wholly for the delectation of those who wanted more and cared less."
— Maya Angelou (Still I Rise)

"

"If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded."
"
— Maya Angelou

"Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside while still alive. Never surrender."
— Tupac Shakur

"“since we all came from a women, got our name from a women, and our game from a women. I wonder why we take from women, why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think its time we killed for our women, be real to our women, try to heal our women, cus if we dont we'll have a race of babies that will hate the ladies, who make the babies. And since a man can't make one he has no right to tell a women when and where to create one”"
— Tupac Amaru Shakur

"If you can make it through the night, there's a brighter day."
— Tupac Shakur

"There's gon' be some stuff you gon' see
that's gon' make it hard to smile in the future.
But through whatever you see,
through all the rain and the pain,
you gotta keep your sense of humor.
You gotta be able to smile through all this bullshit.
Remember that.
"
— Tupac

"You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could've, would've happened... or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the fuck on."
— Tupac Shakur