A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.
Malcolm XRead
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.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that in struggles for justice, time and truth favor those who are oppressed rather than their oppressors.
Malcolm X asserts that in the ongoing fight against oppression, both time and truth are powerful allies for the oppressed. This implies that the inevitability of change and the inherent validity of truth serve to empower those who suffer injustices, making it clear that their cause is righteous and ultimately destined to prevail against tyranny.
In practice
In a speech advocating for social justice, one could quote Malcolm X to highlight the importance of standing up for truth and justice.
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 — and that is fear. I know some of you are afraid to listen to the truth — 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.
Not long ago, an English writer telephoned me from London, asking questions. One was "What's your alma mater?" I told him, "Books." You will never catch me with a free fifteen minutes in which I'm not studying something I feel might be able to help the black man.
The greatest mistake a person can make is to be afraid of making one.
I always showed myself in the face of day, asserting the liberty and independence of my country, while some others, like owls, courted concealment and were too much afraid of losing their roosts to leave them for such a cause.
I was paralyzed from the chest down when I was 19, so I kind of put my head together about dying, and I think I've come to terms with it.
Coraline shivered. She preferred her other mother to have a location: if she were nowhere, then she could be anywhere. And, after all, it is always easier to be afraid of something you cannot see.
It's not always easy being a full-time feminist - especially as a young woman - when you're constantly being told that what you do is irrelevant. I'm on the defense all the time.
A true champion is not judged by how much he or she is admired, but by how well they can stand at the face of adversity.
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