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José Martí
91 quotes
“Life on earth is a hand-to-hand mortal combat... between the law of love and the law of hate.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1881 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter (1881), as quoted in The Conscience of Worms and the Cowardice of Lions : Cuban Politics and Culture in an American Context (1993) by Irving Louis Horowit, p. 11
“Love is... born with the pleasure of looking at each other, it is fed with the necessity of seeing each other, it is concluded with the impossibility of separation!”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Amor (1887)
“Oh, what company good poets are!”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1882 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Longfellow (1882)
“A knowledge of different literatures is the best way to free one's self from the tyranny of any of them.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1882 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Oscar Wilde (1882)
“To beautify life is to give it an object.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1882 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Oscar Wilde (1882)
“Man needs to suffer. When he does not have real griefs he creates them. Griefs purify and prepare him.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1883 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Adúltera" [Adulterous Thoughts] (1883)
“Terrible times in which priests no longer merit the praise of poets and in which poets have not yet begun to be priests.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1883 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On El Poema de Niágara of Pérez Bonalde (1883)
“A nation is not a complex of wheels, nor a wild horse race, but a stride upward concerted by real men.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1886 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Glance at the North American's Soul Today (1886)
“Men are products, expressions, reflections; they live to the extent that they coincide with their epoch, or to the extent that they differ markedly from it.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Henry Ward Beecher (1887)
“A grain of poetry suffices to season a century.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dedication of the Statue of Liberty (1887)
“Hatred, slavery's inevitable aftermath.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Woman Suffrage (1887)
“Others go to bed with their mistresses; I with my ideas.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter (1890)
“Man needs to go outside himself in order to find repose and reveal himself.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1891 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vivir en Sí" [To Live in Oneself] (1891)
“Poetry is the work of the bard and of the people who inspire him.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1891 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Poesia (1891)
“The spirit of a government must be that of the country. The form of a government must come from the makeup of the country. Government is nothing but the balance of the natural elements of a country.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1891 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Our America (1891)
“The whole afternoon was spent rejoicing as the demonstration spread across the city; no one walked alone for all San Juan was a single family.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1893 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico" (1893)
“Many houses were still full of light when, at the close of March 22, the people of the Círculo returned to their homes, which were gladdened with a fleeting gladness by an hour of justice — for there are still many slaves, black and white, in Puerto Rico!”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1893 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico" (1893)
“Mankind is composed of two sorts of men — those who love and create, and those who hate and destroy.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1893 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to a Cuban Farmer" (1893)
“Yo quiero salir del mundo por la puerta natural: en un carro de hojas verdes a morir me han de llevar. No me pongan en lo oscuro a morir como un traidor: yo soy bueno, y como bueno moriré de cara al sol.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1894 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Morir [To Die] (1894)
“This is the age in which hills can look down upon the mountains.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only those who hate the Negro see hatred in the Negro.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1895 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Manifesto of Montecristi (1895)
“I have lived in the monster and I know its insides; and my sling is the sling of David.”
José Martí (1853–1895) first seen 1895 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Of the United States, in a letter to Manuel Mercado (1895), as quoted in Research : The Student's Guide to Writing Research Papers (1998) by Richard Veit, p. 143
“Rights are to be taken, not requested; seized, not begged for.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Inside the Monster : Writings on the United States and American Imperialism (1975) by José Martí, as translated by Elinor Randall, p. 27
“La patria es ara, no pedestal.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in José Martí : Selected Writings (2002) translated by Esther Allen, p. xxi
“Day and night I always dream with open eyes.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Great Hispanic-Americans (2005) by Nicolás Kanellos, Robert Rodriguez and Tamra Orr, p. 72
“Cuba and Belgium are both countries of modest size, surrounded by large, powerful and often hostile powers.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The conceited villager believes the entire world to be his village. Provided that he can be mayor, humiliate the rival who stole his sweetheart, or add to the savings in his strongbox, he considers the universal order good, unaware of those giants with seven-league boots who can crush him underfoot, or of the strife in the heavens between comets that go through the air asleep, gulping down worlds.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Barricades of ideas are worth more than barricades of stones. There is no prow that can cut through a cloudbank of ideas. A powerful idea, waved before the world at the proper time, can stop a squadron of iron-clad ships, like the mystical flag of the Last judgement.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The trees must form ranks to keep the giant with seven-league boots from passing! It is the time of mobilization, of marching together, and we must go forward in close ranks, like silver in the veins of the Andes.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To govern well, one must see things as they are.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Government must originate in the country. The spirit of government must be that of the country Its structure must conform to rules appropriate to the country. Good government is nothing more than the balance of the country's natural elements.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In nations composed of both cultured and uncultured elements, the uncultured will govern because it is their habit to attack and resolve doubts with their fists in cases where the cultured have failed in the art of governing. The uncultured masses are lazy and timid in the realm of intelligence, and they want to be governed well. But if the government hurts them, they shake it off and govern themselves.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“En el periódico, en la cátedra, en la academia, debe llevarse adelante el estudio de los factores reales del país. Conocerlos basta, sin vendas ni ambages; porque el que pone de lado, por voluntad u olvido, una parte de la verdad, cae a la larga por la verdad que le faltó, que crece en la negligencia, y derriba lo que se levanta sin ella. Resolver el problema después de conocer sus elementos, es más fácil que resolver el problema sin conocerlos.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Knowing is what counts. To know one's country and govern it with that knowledge is the only way to free it from tyranny.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let the world be grafted onto our republics, but the trunk must be our own. And let the vanquished pedant hold his tongue, for there are no lands in which a man may take greater pride than in our long-suffering American republics.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was imperative to make common cause with the oppressed, in order to secure a new system opposed to the ambitions and governing habits of the oppressors.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The general holds back his cavalry to a pace that suits his infantry, for if its infantry is left behind, the cavalry will be surrounded by the enemy.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Politics and strategy are one. Nations should live in an atmosphere of self-criticism because it is healthy, but always with one heart and one mind. Stoop to the unhappy, and lift them up in your arms! Thaw out frozen America with the fire of your hearts! Make the natural blood of the nations´ course vigorously through their veins! The new American are on their feet, saluting each other from nation to nation, the eyes of the laborers shining with joy. The natural statesman arises, schooled in the direct study of Nature. He reads to apply his knowledge, not to imitate.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One must have faith in the best in men and distrust the worst. One must allow the best to be shown so that it reveals and prevails over the worst. Nations should have a pillory for whoever stirs up useless hate, and another for whoever fails to tell them the truth in time.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There can be no racial animosity, because there are no races. The theorist and feeble thinkers string together and warm over the bookshelf races which the well-disposed observer and the fair-minded traveller vainly seek in the justice of Nature where man's universal identity springs forth from triumphant love and the turbulent hunger for life. The soul, equal and eternal, emanates from bodies of different shapes and colors. Whoever foments and spreads antagonism and hate between the races, sins against humanity.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yo soy un hombre sincero De donde crece la palma Y antes de morirme quiero Echar mis versos del alma.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I (Yo soy un hombre sincero) as translated by Esther Allen in José Martí : Selected Writings (2002), p. 273,
“I come from all places and to all places I go: I am art among the arts and mountain among mountains. I know the strange names of flowers and herbs and of fatal deceptions and magnificent griefs. In night's darkness I've seen raining down on my head pure flames, flashing rays of beauty divine.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I (Yo soy un hombre sincero) as translated by Esther Allen in José Martí : Selected Writings (2002), p. 273
“Wings I saw springing from fair women's shoulders, and from beneath rubble I've seen butterflies flutter.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I (Yo soy un hombre sincero) as translated by Esther Allen in José Martí : Selected Writings (2002), p. 273
“Once I reveled in a destiny like no other joy I'd known: when the warden — reading my death sentence — wept.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I (Yo soy un hombre sincero) as translated by Esther Allen in José Martí : Selected Writings (2002), p. 273
“I know that when the world surrenders, pallid, to repose, the murmur of a tranquil stream through the deep silence flows.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I (Yo soy un hombre sincero) as translated by Esther Allen in José Martí : Selected Writings (2002), p. 275
“All is beautiful and unceasing, all is music and reason, and all, like diamond, is carbon first, then light.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I (Yo soy un hombre sincero) as translated by Esther Allen in José Martí : Selected Writings (2002), p. 275
“My poems are like a dagger Sprouting flowers from the hilt; My poetry is like a fountain Sprinkling streams of coral water.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My poems please the brave: My poems, short and sincere, Have the force of steel Which forges swords.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Cultivo una rosa blanca En julio como en enero, Para el amigo sincero Que me da su mano franca.Y para el cruel que me arranca El corazon con que vivo, Cardo ni ortiga cultivo, Cultivo una rosa blanca.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As translated in Spanish-American Poetry : A Dual-language Anthology (1996) by Seymour Resnick
“Sueño con claustros de mármol donde en silencio divino los héroes, de pie, reposan; ¡de noche, a la luz del alma, hablo con ellos: de noche! Están en fila: paseo entre las filas: las manos de piedra les beso: abren los ojos de piedra: mueven los labios de piedra: tiemblan las barbas de piedra: empuñan la espada de piedra: lloran: ¡viba la espade en la vaina! Mudo, les beso la mano.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source