Quotes from Steven Biko

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

Black Consciousness is an attitude of the mind and a way of life, the most positive call to emanate from the black world for a long time.

Black man, you are on your own.

The revolutionary sees his task as liberation not only of the oppressed but also of the oppressor. Happiness can never truly exist in a state of tension.

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.

If one is free at heart, no man-made chains can bind one to servitude.

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'.

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

This is white man's integration, an integration based on exploitative values

I would describe and I have described myself to people who ask as a freedom fighter.

WOMEN must be at the forefront of nation-building to bring the South African citizenry together and, therefore, develop a whole new ethos of human co-existence

The logic behind white domination is to prepare the black man for the subservient role in this country.

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

I entered the University of Natal as a preliminary-year student in 1966 and stayed on to June 1972, when I was expelled from the university. I was then doing third-year medicine.

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.

It becomes more necessary to see the truth as it is if you realize that the only vehicle for change are these people who have lost their personality.

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.