Marcus Garvey citations

“Une race sans aucune autorité et sans aucun pouvoir est une race qui ne se respecte pas.”

“Trop nombreux sont ceux parmi nous qui trouvent des prétextes pour fuir la race noire parce que nous sommes amenés à croire que notre race n’a aucune valeur - qu’elle n’a jamais rien accompli. Lâches que nous sommes! C’est nous qui n’avons pas de valeur, parce que nous ne contribuons pas à l’élévation et à la construction de cette race noble.”

“Ce que tu fais de valeureux aujourd’hui inspire les actions des autres dans le futur.”

“Dieu et la Nature nous ont fait ce que nous sommes, mais à travers notre génie créateur nous faisons de nous-mêmes ce que nous voulons être.”

“Un seul Dieu, un seul But, un seul Destin.”

“La seule protection contre l’injustice de l’homme est le pouvoir physique, financier, scientifique.”

“Soyez autant fiers de votre race aujourd’hui que l’étaient vos pères dans le passé. Nous avons une histoire magnifique, et nous allons en créer une autre dans l’avenir qui étonnera le monde”

“Un peuple ignorant de son histoire est comme un arbre sans racines.”

“Pendant plus de trois cents ans l’homme blanc a été notre oppresseur, et il ne nous accordera pas de bon gré la vraie liberté… Nous devrons nous libérer nous-mêmes.”

“L’éducation est le moyen par lequel un peuple se prépare pour la création de sa civilisation propre et aussi l’avancement et la gloire de sa propre race.”

“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.”

“A Race without the knowledge of its history is like a tree without roots.”

“The pen is mightier than the sword, but the tongue is mightier than them both put together.”

“We were the first Fascists, when we had 100,000 disciplined men, and were training children, Mussolini was still an unknown. Mussolini copied our Fascism.”

“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.”

“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.”

“When the war started in Abyssinia all Negro nationalists looked with hope to Haile Selassie. They spoke for him, they prayed for him, they sung for him, they did everything to hold up his hands, as Aaron did for Moses; but whilst the Negro peoples of the world were praying for the success of Abyssinia this little Emperor was undermining the fabric of his own kingdom by playing the fool with white men, having them advising him[, ] having them telling him what to do, how to surrender, how to call off the successful thrusts of his [Race] against the Italian invaders. Yes, they were telling him how to prepare his flight, and like an imbecilic child he followed every advice and then ultimately ran away from his country to England, leaving his people to be massacred by the Italians, and leaving the serious white world to laugh at every Negro and repeat the charge and snare - "he is incompetent," "we told you so." Indeed Haile Selassie has proved the incompetence of the Negro for political authority, but thank God there are Negroes who realise that Haile Selassie did not represent the truest qualities of the Negro race. How could he, when he wanted to play white? How could he, when he surrounded himself with white influence? How could he, when in a modern world, and in a progressive civilization, he preferred a slave State of black men than a free democratic country where the black citizens could rise to the same opportunities as white citizens in their democracies?”

“If you have no confidence in self you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence you have won even before you have started.”

“Intelligence rules the world, ignorance carries the burden…”

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

“We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, for though others may free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind. Mind is our only ruler; sovereign.”

“great principles, great ideals know no nationality.”

“to be once defeated is to find cause for an everlasting struggle to reach the top.”

“Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm, look for me all around you, for, with God's grace, I shall come and bring with me countless millions of black slaves who have died in America and the West Indies and the millions in Africa to aid you in the fight for Liberty, Freedom and Life.”

“Our union must know no clime, boundary, or nationality… let us hold together under all climes and in every country…”

“When the facts of history are written Haile Selassie of Abyssinia will go down as a great coward who ran away from his country to save his skin and left the millions of his countrymen to struggle through a terrible war that he brought upon them because of his political ignorance and his racial disloyalty.”

“Hungry men have no respect for law, authority or human life.”