Top 135 Quotes & Sayings by Marcus Garvey

Men who are in earnest are not afraid of consequences.

Our success educationally, industrially and politically is based upon the protection of a nation founded by ourselves. And the nation can be nowhere else but in Africa.

If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life.

You may call me a Klansman if you will, but, potentially, every white man is a Klansman, as far as the Negro in competition with whites socially, economically and politically is concerned, and there is no use lying.

We welcome the opposition of the world, because we are determined to see the battle through. Africa's battle-cry is not yet heard.

We see a new Ethiopia, a new Africa, stretching her hands of influence throughout the world, teaching man the way of life and peace, The Way to God.

This hour we are stretching forth our hands with the desire to teach the world the true principles of mercy and justice.

The Black skin is not a badge of shame, but rather a glorious symbol of national greatness.

God and Nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own created genius we make ourselves what we want to be. Follow always that great law. Let the sky and God be our limit and Eternity our measurement.

I have no desire to take all black people back to Africa; there are blacks who are no good here and will likewise be no good there.

Africa has become the big game of the nation hunters. Today, Africa looms as the greatest commercial, industrial and political prize in the world.

Chance has never yet satisfied the hope of a suffering people.

Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm.

Whatsoever things common to man, that man has done, man can do.

Real men laugh at opposition; real men smile when enemies appear.

There is no force like success, and that is why the individual makes all effort to surround himself throughout life with the evidence of it; as of the individual, so should it be of the nation.

Look to Africa, for there a king will be crowned.

The whole world is run on bluff.

If the enemy could only know that Marcus Garvey is but a John the Baptist in the wilderness, that a greater and more dangerous Marcus Garvey is yet to appear, the Garvey with whom you will have to reckon for the injustice of the present generation.

I regard the Klan, the Anglo-Saxon clubs and White American societies, as far as the Negro is concerned, as better friends of the race than all other groups of hypocritical whites put together.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds!

Africa for the Africans... at home and abroad!

The enemies are not so much from without as from within the race.

Glorious shall be the battle when the time comes to fight for our people and our race.

A reading man and woman is a ready man and woman, but a writing man and woman is exact.

There shall be no solution to this race problem until you, yourselves, strike the blow for liberty.

Ethiopia shall once more arise from the ashes of material ruin to the heights of temporal glory.

I like honesty and fair play.

Marcus Garvey does not give a snap for anything human but justice, and that which is based upon righteousness.

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.

Up, you mighty race, accomplish what you will.

With confidence, you have won before you have started.

Progress is the attraction that moves humanity.

Liberate the minds of men and ultimately you will liberate the bodies of men.

I know no national boundary where the Negro is concerned. The whole world is my province until Africa is free.

Be Black, buy Black, think Black, and all else will take care of itself.

The man who is not able to develop and use his mind is bound to be the slave of the other man who uses his mind

This propaganda of dis-associating Western Negroes from Africa is not a new one. For many years white propagandists have been printing tons of literature to impress scattered Ethiopia, especially that portion within their civilization, with the idea that Africa is a despised place, inhabited by savages, and cannibals, where no civilized human being should go, especially black civilized human beings. This propaganda is promulgated for the cause that is being realized today. That cause is COLONIAL EXPANSION for the white nations of the world.

We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind. Mind is your only ruler, sovereign. The man who is not able to develop and use his mind is bound to be the slave of the other man who uses his mind.

Every man has a right to his own opinion. Every race has a right to its own action; therefore let no man persuade you against your will, let no other race influence you against your own.

I trust that you will so live today as to realize that you are masters of your own destiny, masters of your fate; if there is anything you want in this world, it is for you to strike out with confidence and faith in self and reach for it.

Let us not try to be the best or worst of others, but let us make the effort to be the best of ourselves.

Do not remove the kinks from your hair--remove them from your brain.

A race that is solely dependent upon another for economic existence sooner or later dies. As we have in the past been living upon the mercies shown by others, and by the chances obtainable, and have suffered there from, so we will in the future suffer if an effort is not made now to adjust our own affairs.

Take advantage of every opportunity; where there is none, make it for yourself.

God does not... give people positions or jobs or... good conditions such as they desire; they must do that for themselves.. God does not build cities nor towns nor nations, nor homes, nor factories; men and people do that and all those who want must work for themselves and pray to God to give them strength to do it.

We must give up the silly idea of folding our hands and waiting on God to do everything for us. If God had intended for that, then he would not have given us a mind. Whatever you want in life, you must make up your mind to do it for yourself.

The thing to do is to get organized; keep separated and you will be exploited, you will be robbed, you will be killed. Get organized and you will compel the world to respect you.

The white man has succeeded in subduing the world by forcing everybody to think his way....The white man's propaganda has made him the master of the world, and all those who have come in contact with it and accepted it have become his slaves.

History teaches us no race, no people, no nation has ever been freed through cowardice, through cringing, through bowing and scraping, but all that has been achieved to the glory of mankind, to the glory and honour of races and nations was through the manly determination and effort of those who lead and those who are led.

The ends you serve that are selfish will take you no further than yourself but the ends you serve that are for all, in common, will take you into eternity.

Take advantage of every opportunity; where there is none, make it for yourself, and let history record that as we toiled laboriously and courageously, we worked to live gloriously.

Always try to associate with people from whom you can learn something. All the knowledge that you want is in the world, and all you have to do is go and seek it.

Ambition is the desire to go forward and improve one's condition. It is a burning flame that lights up the life of the individual and makes him see himself in another state. To be ambitious is to be great in mind and soul. To want that which is worth while and strive for it. To go on without looking back, reaching to that which gives satisfaction.

If we as a people realized the greatness from which we came we would be less likely to disrespect ourselves.

If you get up everyday and you don't learn you are a fool

If the Negro is not careful he will drink in all the poison of modern civilization and die from the effects of it.

Never forget that intelligence rules the world and ignorance carries the burden. Therefore, remove yourself as far as possible from ignorance and seek as far as possible to be intelligent.

Intelligence rules the world, ignorance carries the burden.

Lift up yourselves, men, take yourselves out of the mire and hitch your hopes to the very stars themselves. Let no man pull you down, let no man destroy your ambition, because man is but your companion, your equal; man is your brother; he is not your Lord, he is not your sovereign master.