A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.
Malcolm XRead
One of the first things I think young people, especially nowadays, should learn is how to see for yourself and listen for yourself and think for yourself.
Interpretation
Young people should develop the ability to form their own opinions and thoughts.
Malcolm X emphasizes the importance of independent thinking for young individuals. In a world filled with information and opinions, he suggests that it is crucial for the youth to cultivate their own perspectives through observation and listening rather than passively accepting what is presented to them. This call for self-reliance in thought encourages critical thinking skills which are vital for personal development and informed decision-making.
In practice
In a graduation speech to inspire students to make their own choices.
A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.
I have more respect for a man who lets me know where he stands, even if he's wrong, than the one who comes up like an angel and is nothing but a devil.
When you want a nation, that's called nationalism... Black nationalism. A revolutionary is a Black nationalist. He wants a nation.
So over you is the greatest enemy a man can have β and that is fear. I know some of you are afraid to listen to the truth β you have been raised on fear and lies. But I am going to preach to you the truth until you are free of that fear...
Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.
Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else.
History offers us vicarious experience. It allows the youngest student to possess the ground equally with his elders; without a knowledge of history to give him a context for present events, he is at the mercy of every social misdiagnosis handed to him.
The entire educational process must be carried out with love, which is perceptible in every disciplinary measure and which does not instill any fear. And the most effective educational method is not the word of instruction but the living example without which all words remain useless.
True scholarship consists in knowing not what things exist, but what they mean; it is not memory but judgment.
College is something you complete. Life is something you experience. So don't worry about your grade, or the results or success. Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it, and people will no longer be grading you, but it will come from your own internal sense of decency.
Human resources are like natural resources; they're often buried deep You have to go looking for them; they're not just lying around on the surface You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves.
He was beastly tired, but it was hard to stop. One more book, he had told himself, then I'll stop. One more folio, just one more. One more page, then I'll go up and rest and get a bite to eat. But there was always another page after that one, and another after that, and another book waiting underneath the pile. I'll just take a quick peek to see what this one is about, he'd think, and before he knew he would be halfway through it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.