Steven Biko Black Quotations

The basic tenet of black consciousness is that the black man must reject all value systems that seek to make him a foreigner in the country of his birth and reduce his basic human dignity.

Merely by describing yourself as black you have started on a road towards emancipation, you have committed yourself to fight against all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being.

In time, we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift - a more human face.

Being black is not a matter of pigmentation - being black is a reflection of a mental attitude.

So as a prelude whites must be made to realise that they are only human, not superior. Same with Blacks. They must be made to realise that they are also human, not inferior.

The first step therefore is to make the black man come to himself; to pump back life into his empty shell; to infuse him with pride and dignity, to remind him of his complicity in the crime of allowing himself to be misused and therefore letting evil reign supreme in the country of his birth.

It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die

I would like to remind the black ministry and indeed all black people that God is not in the habit of coming down from heaven to solve people's problems on earth.

To a large extent the evil-doers have succeeded in producing at the output end of their machine a kind of black man who is man only in form. This is the extent to which the process of dehumanization has advanced.

We must realise that prophetic cry of black students: Black man you are on your own!

When you say 'Black is beautiful' you are saying, 'Man you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being'.

Black man, you are on your own.

I think the central theme about black society is that it has got elements of a defeated society

Black Consciousness therefore takes cognizance of the deliberateness of God's plan in creating Black people black.

In all fields black consciousness seeks to talk to the black man in a language that is his own