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The system concedes nothing without demand, for it formulates its very method of operation on the basis that the ignorant will learn to know, the child will grow into an adult and therefore demands will begin to be made. It gears itself to resist demands in whatever way it sees fit.

— Steve Biko I Write What I Like (1978)

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More quotes by Steve Biko

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

The Last Defenders of the Laager: Ian D. Smith and F.W. de Klerk (1985)

The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.

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.

I Write What I Like (1978)

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

I Write What I Like (1978)

This is the extent to which the process of dehumanization has advanced.

I Write What I Like (1978)

All Steve Biko quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Steve Biko (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.