The basic tenet of black consciousness is that the black man must reject all value systems that seek to make him a foreigner in the country of his birth and reduce his basic human dignity.

I'm going to be me as I am, and you can beat me or jail me or even kill me, but I'm not going to be what you want me to be.

It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die.

The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.

Being black is not a matter of pigmentation - being black is a reflection of a mental attitude.

I would like to remind the black ministry and indeed all black people that God is not in the habit of coming down from heaven to solve people's problems on earth.

Change the way people think and things will never be the same

The wealth of the country must eventually be enjoyed by people of the country

You are either alive and proud or you are dead, and when you are dead, you can't care anyway.

So as a prelude whites must be made to realise that they are only human, not superior. Same with Blacks. They must be made to realise that they are also human, not inferior.

A community is easily divide when their perception of the same thing is different

a dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. a man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.

You cannot build a dream on a foundation of sand. To weather the test of storms, it must be cemented in the heart with uncompromising conviction.

When you put your passion into your desire, when it becomes a fire that threatens to consume you unless you have it, then your will is in the right place.

As far as I was concerned, a little danger of head-shrinking is a small price to pay in return for a people who have remained true to an ancient code.

We now doubt Aristotle, understand Shakespeare only with footnotes.

Immature poets imitate: mature poets steal.

As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives: ‘I know that my Redeemer lives!’

So long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Miserables cannot fail to be of use.