Black Quotes

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  The Black skin is not a badge of shame, but rather a glorious symbol of national greatness.

  Marcus Garvey

  Greatness, Racism, Skins

  1224 Copy quote

• There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

  Nelson Mandela

  Inspirational, Change, Inspiring

  Nelson Mandela (2011). “Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations”, p.191, Pan Macmillan

  76 Copy quote

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• We black men have a hard enough time in our own struggle for justice, and already have enough enemies as it is, to make the drastic mistake of attacking each other and adding more weight to an already unbearable load.

  Malcolm X

  Mistake, Struggle, Men

  85 Copy quote

• Where there is no vision, there is no hope.

  George Washington Carver

  Inspirational, Leadership, Hope

  329 Copy quote

• Freedom is never given; it is won.

  A. Philip Randolph

  Inspirational, Freedom, 4th Of July

  Keynote speech given at the Second National Negro Congress, 1937.

  151 Copy quote

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• There can be no black-white unity until there is first some black unity... 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.

  Malcolm X

  Thinking, White, Unity

  "A Declaration of Independence" by Malcolm X, teachingamericanhistory.org. March 12, 1964.

  326 Copy quote

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• Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations.

  Mae Jemison

  Inspiring, People, Imagination

  248 Copy quote

• Me only have one ambition, y'know. I only have one thing I really like to see happen. I like to see mankind live together - black, white, Chinese, everyone - that's all.

  Bob Marley

  Love, Ambition, White

  113 Copy quote

• If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  Twitter post from Jan 15, 2017

  451 Copy quote

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• It isn't a matter of black is beautiful as much as it is white is not all that's beautiful.

  Bill Cosby

  Funny, Beautiful, Hair

  82 Copy quote

• It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.

  Lou Holtz

  Inspirational, Sports, Attitude

  53 Copy quote

• A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere.

  Groucho Marx

  Inspirational, Funny, Cat

  171 Copy quote

• For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Truth, Men

  1972 On Africa. In the New York Times,16 Apr.

  54 Copy quote

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• I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.

  Nelson Mandela

  Equality, Men, White Man

  Nelson Mandela (2011). “Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations”, p.321, Pan Macmillan

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• I want to make it clear that the black race did not come to the United States culturally empty-handed. The role and importance of ethnic history is in how well it teaches a people to use their own talents, take pride in their own history and love their own memories.

  John Henrik Clarke

  Memories, Pride, Race

  53 Copy quote

• 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.

  Malcolm X

  Strong, Coffee, Sleep

  Malcolm X's Speech at the Northern Negro Grass Roots Leadership Conference in Detroit, Michigan, teachingamericanhistory.org. November 10, 1963.

  89 Copy quote

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• 

  Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.67, Beacon Press

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• I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.

  Ralph Ellison

  Men, People, Black History

  Invisible Man prologue (1952)

  24 Copy quote

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• Even when the polls are open to all, Negroes have shown themselves too slow to exercise their voting privileges. There must be a concerted effort on the part of Negro leaders to arouse their people from their apathetic indifference.... In the past, apathy was a moral failure. Today, it is a form of moral and political suicide.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Suicide, Exercise, Past

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1964). “A Martin Luther King Treasury”

  32 Copy quote

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• Both read the Bible day and night, but thou read black where I read white.

  William Blake

  Bible, Artist, Night

  William Blake, “The Everlasting Gospel”

  56 Copy quote

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• Actually I don't remember being born, it must have happened during one of my black outs.

  Jim Morrison

  Funny, Music, Nightlife

  66 Copy quote

• I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.

  Muhammad Ali

  Cocky, Greatness, Names

  Muhammad Ali (2016). “Muhammad Ali Unfiltered: Rare, Iconic, and Officially Authorized Photos of the Greatest”, p.88, Simon and Schuster

  77 Copy quote

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• Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.

  Barbara Jordan

  Inspirational, Freedom, Memorable

  110 Copy quote

• American means white, and Africanist people struggle to make the term applicable to themselves with ethnicity and hyphen after hyphen after hyphen.

  Toni Morrison

  Struggle, Mean, Ethnicity

  Toni Morrison (2007). “Playing in the Dark”, p.38, Vintage

  10 Copy quote

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• Black women don't have the same body image problems as white women. They are proud of their bodies.

  Tyra Banks

  White, Body, Proud

  16 Copy quote