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.
Malcolm XRead
A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Having strong principles is essential for making sound decisions; without them, one can easily be swayed.
This quote emphasizes the importance of having convictions and principles in life. Malcolm X suggests that without a strong foundation of beliefs to guide your actions and decisions, a person becomes vulnerable to manipulation and easily influenced by others. It serves as a reminder to cultivate one's values to navigate life with purpose and integrity.
Themes
PrinciplesConvictionsIntegrityDecision-MakingValues
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about personal integrity.
More from Malcolm X
All quotes βWhen you want a nation, that's called nationalism... Black nationalism. A revolutionary is a Black nationalist. He wants a nation.
Malcolm XRead
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...
Malcolm XRead
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.
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.
Malcolm XRead
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.
Malcolm XRead
Similar quotes
Don't argue for other people's weaknesses. Don't argue for your own. When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it / immediately.
Stephen CoveyRead
As a man's real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing,but does only and wholly what he must do.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
If money help a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.
Swami VivekanandaRead
I have an ambition to write a great book, but that's really a competition with myself. I've noticed that a lot of young writers, people in all media, want to be famous but they don't really want to do anything. I can't think of anything less worth striving for than fame.
Zadie SmithRead
Ideas become powerful only if they appear in the flesh; an idea which does not lead to action by the individual and by groups remains at best a paragraph or a footnote in a book.
Erich FrommRead
No one is to blame for our miseries but ourselves.
Swami VivekanandaRead