Bantu Stephen Biko was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known as the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa. Inspirational Steve Biko quotes will encourage you to think a little deeper than you usually would and broaden your perspective.
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Most Famous Steve Biko Quotes
Black man, you are on your own. Steven Biko
The greatest weapon in the hand of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Steve Biko
You are either alive and proud or you are dead, and when you are dead, you can’t care anyway. Steven Biko
It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die. Steve Biko
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. Steven Biko
The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. 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. Steve Biko
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. Steven Biko
Black Consciousness is in essence the realization by the black man of the need to rally together with his brothers around the cause of their oppression. Steve Biko
In time, we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift a more human face. Steven Biko
The most powerful weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Steve Biko
I would describe and I have described myself to people who ask as a freedom fighter. Steven Biko
At the time of his death, Biko had a wife and three children for which he left a letter that stated in one part I’ve devoted my life to see equality for blacks, and at the same time, I’ve denied the needs of my family. Please understand that I take these actions, not out of selfishness or arrogance, but to preserve a South Africa worth living in for blacks and whites. Steve Biko
We know that all interracial groups in South Africa are relationships in which whites are superior, blacks inferior. So as a prelude, whites must be made to realize that they are only human, not superior. Same with blacks. They must be made to realize that they are also human, not inferior. Steven Biko
Instead of involving themselves in an all out attempt to stamp out racism from their white society, liberals waste a lot of time trying to prove to as many blacks as they can find that they are liberal. Steve Biko
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. Steven Biko
I write what I like. Steve Biko
The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Steven Biko
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. Steve Biko
Being black is not a matter of pigmentation being black is a reflection of a mental attitude. Steven Biko
What Black Consciousness seeks to do is to produce real black people who do not regard themselves as appendages to white society. We do not need to apologise for this because it is true that the white systems have produced through the world a number of people who are not aware that they too are people. Steve Biko
A people without a positive history is like a vehicle without an engine. Steven Biko
Double consciousness is knowing the particularity of the white world in the face of its enforced claim to universality. Double consciousness is knowing the history offered up to black people its many interpretations and echoes of white superiority and black inferiority, of white heroism and black cowardice, and even the temporal and geographical location of history’s beginning as a step off of the African continent is a falsehood that blacks are forced to treat as truth in so many countless ways. Double consciousness, in other words, is knowing a lie while living its contradiction. Steve Biko
The black man has become a shell, a shadow of man, completely defeated, drowning in his own misery, a slave, an ox bearing the yoke of oppression with sheepish timidity. Steven Biko
A game at which the liberals have become masters is that of deliberate evasiveness. The question often comes up what can you do? If you ask him to do something like stopping to use segregated facilities or dropping out of varsity to work at menial jobs like all blacks or defying and denouncing all provisions that make him privileged, you always get the answer but that’s unrealistic! While this may be true, it only serves to illustrate the fact that no matter what a white man does, the colour of his skin his passport to privilege- will always put him miles ahead of the black men. Thus in the ultimate analysis, no white person can escape being part of the oppressor camp. Steve Biko
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. Steven Biko
It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die. Steve Biko
The great powers of the world may have done wonders in giving the world an industrial look, but the great gift still has to come from Africa giving the world a more human face. Steven Biko
The myth of integration as propounded under the banner of the liberal ideology must be cracked because it makes people believe that something is being achieved when in reality the artificially integrated circles are a soporific to the blacks while salving the consciences of the few guilt stricken whites. Steve Biko
A Black man should be more independent and depend on himself for his freedom and not to take it for granted that someone would lead him to it. The blacks are tired of standing at the touchlines to witness a game that they should be playing. They want to do things for them selves and all by themselves. Steven Biko
The great powers of the world may have done wonders in giving the world an industrial and military look but the great gift still has to come from Africa giving the world a more human face. Steve Biko
The fact that apartheid has been tied up with white supremacy, capitalist exploitation, and deliberate oppression makes the problem much more complex. Material want is bad enough, but coupled with spiritual poverty, it kills. Steven Biko
It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die. Steven Biko
In a bid for change, we have to take off our coats, be prepared to lose our comfort and security, our jobs and positions of prestige, and our families. A struggle without casualties is no struggle. Steven Biko
Thus in South Africa it is very expensive to be poor. It is the poor people who stay furthest from town and therefore have to spend more money on transport to come and work for white people; it is the poor people who use uneconomic and inconvenient fuel like paraffin and coal because of the refusal of the white man to install electricity in black areas; it is the poor people who are governed by many ill defined restrictive laws and therefore have to spend money on fines for technical offences; it is the poor people who have no hospitals and are therefore exposed to exorbitant charges by private doctors; it is the poor people who use untarred roads, have to walk long distances, and therefore experience the greatest wear and tear on commodities like shoes; it is the poor people who have to pay for their children’s books while whites get them free. Steve Biko
Apartheid both petty and grand is obviously evil. Nothing can justify the arrogant assumption that a clique of foreigners has the right to decide on the lives of a majority. Steven Biko
You are either alive and proud or you are dead, and when you are dead, you can’t care anyway. Steve Biko
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. Steven Biko
No group, however benevolent, can ever hand power to the vanquished on a plate. Steve Biko
If one is free at heart, no man made chains can bind one to servitude, but if one’s mind is so manipulated and controlled by the oppressor, then there will be nothing the oppressed can do to scare his powerful masters. Steven Biko
We regard our living together not as an unfortunate mishap warranting endless competition among us but as a deliberate act of God to make us a community of brothers and sisters jointly involved in the quest for a composite answer to the varied problems of life. Hence in all we do we always place man first and hence all our action is usually joint community oriented action rather than the individualism. Steve Biko
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. Steven Biko
In time, we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift a more human face. Steve Biko
Tradition has it that whenever a group of people has tasted the lovely fruits of wealth, security, and prestige, it begins to find it more comfortable to believe in the obvious lie and accept that it alone is entitled to privilege. Steven Biko
I’m going to be me as I am, and you can beat me or jail me or even kill me, but I’m not going to be what you want me to be. Steven Biko
We are concerned with that curious bunch of nonconformists who explain their participation in negative terms that bunch of do gooders that goes under all sorts of names liberals, leftists, etc. These are the people who argue that they are not responsible for white racism and the country’s inhumanity to the black man. Steven Biko
It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die. Steven Biko
The press is largely directed at white society or the so called electorate whose values are laced with racial prejudice against black people. Steven Biko
It becomes more necessary to see the truth as it is if you realise that the only vehicle for change are these people who have lost their personality. 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. Steven Biko
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. Steven Biko
Change the way people think and things will never be the same. Steven Biko
Being black is not a matter of pigmentation being black is a reflection of a mental attitude. Steven Biko
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. Steven Biko
We are experiencing new problems every day and whatever we do adds to the richness of our cultural heritage as long as it has man as its centre. Steven Biko
People must be aware of their problems in a realistic way. They must be able to analyse their problems and to work out common solutions. In other words a community is easily divided when their perception of the same thing is different. Steven Biko
The oneness of community for instance is at the heart of our culture. Steven Biko
Being black is not a matter of pigmentation being black is a reflection of a mental attitude. Steven Biko
The great powers of the world may have done wonders in giving the world an industrial and military look but the great gift still has to come from Africa giving the world a more human face. Steven Biko
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. Steven Biko
It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die. Steven Biko
If one is free at heart, no man-made chains can bind one to servitude. Steven Biko
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. Steven Biko
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. Steven Biko
I’m going to be me as I am, and you can beat me or jail me or even kill me, but I’m not going to be what you want me to be. Steven Biko
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. Its essence is the realisation by the black man of the need to rally together with his brothers around the cause of their oppression the blackness of their skin and to operate as a group to rid themselves of the shackles that bind them to perpetual servitude. Steven Biko
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. Steven Biko
At the time of his death, Biko had a wife and three children for which he left a letter that stated in one part I’ve devoted my life to see equality for blacks, and at the same time, I’ve denied the needs of my family. Please understand that I take these actions, not out of selfishness or arrogance, but to preserve a South Africa worth living in for blacks and whites. Steven Biko
Black man, you are on your own. Steven Biko
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. Steven Biko
Any warning normally implies, even if it is tacit, that there should be changes. Steven Biko
A community is easily divide when their perception of the same thing is different. Steven Biko
We have set out on a quest for true humanity, and somewhere on the distant horizon we can see the glittering prize. Let us march forth with courage and determination, drawing strength from our common plight and our brotherhood and sisterhood. In time we shall be in a position to bestow upon South Africa the greatest gift possible a more human face. Steven Biko
A people without a positive history is like a vehicle without an engine. Steven Biko
I am against the fact that a settler minority should impose an entire system of values on an indigenous people. Steven Biko
You are either alive and proud or you are dead, and when you are dead, you can’t care anyway. Steven Biko
The wealth of the country must eventually be enjoyed by people of the country. Steven Biko
I think the central theme about black society is that it has got elements of a defeated society. Steven Biko
We regard our living together not as an unfortunate mishap warranting endless competition among us but as a deliberate act of God to make us a community of brothers and sisters jointly involved in the quest for a composite answer to the varied problems of life. Hence in all we do we always place man first and hence all our action is usually joint community oriented action rather than the individualism. Steven Biko
Tradition has it that whenever a group of people has tasted the lovely fruits of wealth, security and prestige it begins to find it more comfortable to believe in the obvious lie and accept that it alone is entitled to privilege. Steven Biko
I am against the fact that a settler minority should impose an entire system of values on an indigenous people. Steven Biko
The power of a movement lies in the fact that it can indeed change the habits of people. This change is not the result of force but of dedication, of moral persuasion. Steven Biko
