Malcolm X Quotes

I would rather clean than beg.

Most of my younger Native American friends are not in any way looking for sympathy, and they're not looking to lay guilt on anybody. They have their dignity, and they do what they do.

The old people we respect most are the ones who will fight for their independence, who would sooner starve to death than ask for help. We in America have very little sense of interdependence.

We built it. We paid for it. It’s ours.

I would never allow anyone to give me money, no difference how badly I needed it. I wanted literally to earn my living.

My mother has a tremendous amount of pride and self-respect. She won't take assistance from anybody.

Pity goes hand in hand with contempt. Don't ever forget that, Liberty. You can't take handouts or help from anyone, because that gives people the right to look down on you.

I'm not one of these people that needs to feel loved. I don't need to see my picture everywhere.

I would rather take the role and work and make my own money and self respect than to have sex with someone who has a lot of money.

Men secretly respect a woman who is strong, has confidence and has dreams of her own. There's nothing more attractive to a man than a woman who has dignity and pride in who she is.

I'll take no charity! What I get I'll earn by taking it. I would feel no pleasure it being given to me, any more than a huntsman would take pleasure being made a present of a dead fox, in place of getting a run across country after it.

I never ask anyone for anything. I've just not been brought up like that.

I don't need to be vindicated, and I don't want attention.

I stay in France. Better to be the queen of a village than a servant in a kingdom.

I never wanted anyone's pity.

The truly proud man knows neither superiors nor inferiors. The first he does not admit of: the last he does not concern himself about.

In order that she may be able to give her hand with dignity, she must be able to stand alone.

Perhaps one reason we are fascinated by cats is because such a small animal can contain so much independence, dignity, and freedom of spirit. Unlike the dog, the cat's personality is never bet on a human's. He demands acceptance on his own terms.

The love of independence and dislike of unjust treatment is the source of a thousand virtues.

I'm much happier on my own. Being a member of The Corre, for example, I was obviously better than all three of those guys. However, I made the mistake of holding them as equals. No more.

I want to earn it, I don't want anything given to me.

I understand the dignity that comes from work and caring for one's family.

I have a lot of dignity and am my own woman who does not dance to anyone's tunes.

Ignoring the source of creation and trying to conduct your life yourself is a terribly egoistic and ignorant attitude towards life.

The proud will sooner lose than ask their way.