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José Rizal
52 quotes
“Consummatum est( it is finished)”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: José Rizal's last words, quoted by Austin Coates, in Rizal: Philippine Nationalist and Martyr, Oxford University Press, (1968)
“In the Middle Ages, everything bad was the work of the devil, everything good, the work of God. Today, the French see everything in reverse and blame the Germans for it.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1892 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Fr. Pastells (11 November 1892)
“To doubt God is to doubt one's own conscience, and in consequence it would be to doubt everything.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1893 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Fr. Pastells (4 April 1893)
“No, let us not make God in our image, poor inhabitants that we are of a distant planet lost in infinite space. However brilliant and sublime our intelligence may be, it is scarcely more than a small spark which shines and in an instant is extinguished, and it alone can give us no idea of that blaze, that conflagration, that ocean of light.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1893 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Fr. Pastells (4 April 1893)
“I believe in revelation, but not in revelation which each religion claims to possess... but in the living revelation which surrounds us on every side — mighty, eternal, unceasing, incorruptible, clear, distinct, universal as is the being from whom it proceeds, in that revelation which speaks to us and penetrates us from the moment we are born until we die.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1893 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Fr. Pastells (4 April 1893)
“Each one writes history according to his convenience.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1886 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Blumentritt, written at Leipzig,(22 August 1886)
“Today is Christmas Eve. Whether or not Christ was born exactly on this date is not important. But chronological accuracy has nothing to do with tonight's event. A grand genius had been born who preached truth and love; who suffered because of his mission; and on account of his sufferings the world has become better, if not saved. Only it gives me nausea to see how some people abuse his name to commit numerous crimes. If he is in heaven, he will certainly protest!”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1886 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Blumentritt (24 December 1886)
“Is it not sad, I said to my countrymen, that we have to learn from a foreigner about ourselves? Thanks to the German scholars we get accurate information about ourselves, and when everything in our country has been destroyed and we wish to verify the historical correctness of certain facts we shall have to come to Germany to search for these facts, in German museums and books!”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Blumentritt (13 April 1887)
“The Philippines should be grateful to you if you would write a complete history of our country from an impartial point of view.. But don't expect thanks and laurels--crowns of flowers and laurels are the inventions of free people. But perhaps your children may gather the fruit of what the father planted.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Blumentritt (13 April 1887)
“We want the happiness of the Philippines, but we want to obtain it through noble and just means. If I have to commit villainy to make her happy, I would refuse to do so, because I am sure that what is built on sand sooner or later would tumble down.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Blumentritt, (31 January 1887)
“One only dies once, and if one does not die well, a good opportunity is lost and will not present itself again.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Mariano Ponce, (1890)
“To live is to be among men, and to be among men is to struggle, a struggle not only with them but with oneself; with their passions, but also with one's own.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1884 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his family, Dapitan (c. 1884)
“Genius has no country. It blossoms everywhere. Genius is like the light, the air. It is the heritage of all.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1884 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Toast to the artists Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo: Madrid, Spain (25 June 1884)
“It was a world which granted privileges to some and imposed prohibitions on others...Endowed with strength and eager to learn, one had to drag himself in a narrow prison cell when he could see an open field, a vast horizon in the distance; when he could feel the beatings of a heart; and when he believed himself entitled to enjoy the beauty of a dream.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1884 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Laughter and Tears", an essay (c.1884)
“Friar! What a strange name. I don't remember having created such a thing! (God speaking to the angel Gabriel)”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Filipinos don't realize that victory is the child of struggle, that joy blossoms from suffering, and redemption is a product of sacrifice.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Como se gobiernan las Filipinas" (How one governs in the Philippines), published in La Solidaridad (15 December 1890)
“Death has always been the first sign of European civilization when introduced in the Pacific.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No one has a monopoly of the true God, nor is there a nation or religion that can claim, or at any rate prove, that it has been given the exclusive right to the Creator or sole knowledge of His Being.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sea, the sea is everything! Its sovereign mass brings to me atoms of a myriad faraway lands; Its bright smile animates me in the limpid mornings And when at the end of day my faith has failed me My heart echoes the sound of its sorrow in the sands.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The world laughs at another man's pain.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He who would love much has also much to suffer.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To My__" (December 1890)
“Muse who in the past inspired me to sing of the throes of love: Go and repose. What I need is a sword, rivers of gold, and acrid prose.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To My__" (December 1890)- translated by Nick Joaquin
“No good water comes from a muddy spring. No sweet fruit comes from a bitter seed.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The tyranny of some is possible only through the cowardice of others.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to the Young Women of Malolos (22 February 1889) - translated from Tagalog by Gregorio Zaide
“Man works for an object. Remove that object and you reduce him into inaction.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Indolence of the Filipino" in La Solidaridad (1890)
“Man is multiplied by the number of languages he possesses and speaks.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Virtue lies in the middle ground.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God has made man a cosmopolite. He created seas for ships to glide on, the wind to push them, and the stars to guide them even in darkest night.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Travel is a caprice in childhood, a passion in youth, a necessity in manhood, and an elegy in old age.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Necessity is the most powerful divinity the world knows--it is the result of physical forces set in operation by ethical forces.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Law has no skin, reason has no nostrils.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Filipino loves his country no less than the Spaniard does his, and although he is quieter, more peaceful and with more difficulty stirred up, once aroused he does not hesitate and for him the struggle means death to the finish. He has both the meekness and ferocity of the carabao. Climate affects bipeds in the same way it does quadrupeds.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Philippines: A Century Hence" in La Solidaridad (1889-90) - translated from the Spanish by Charles Derbyshire
“It breaks immortality's neck Contemplates crime and therefore halts it; It humbles barbarous nations And makes of savages, champions.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1876 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Por La Education" (To Education, c. 1876) - translator unknown
“Oh how beautiful to fall to give you flight, To die to give you life, to rest under your sky; And in your enchanted land forever sleep.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I go where there are no slaves, hangmen or oppressors; Where faith does not kill; where the one who reigns is God.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) first seen 1896 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mi Ultimo Adios" st. 13 - poem written on the eve of his execution (29 December 1896) - translated from the Spanish by Charles Derbyshire.
“I die without seeing the dawn brighten over my native land.You who have it to see, welcome it--and forget not those who have fallen during the night!”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth does not need to borrow garments from error. (Also translated as: Truth does not need to borrow garments from falsehood.)”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fame to be sweet must resound in the ears of those we love, in the atmosphere of the land that will guard our ashes. Fame should hover over our tomb to warm with its heat the chill of death, so that we may not be completely reduced to nothingness, that something of us may survive.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Believing in accidents is like believing in miracles--both presuppose that God does not know the future.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fate presented itself to some like a chinese fan--one side black, the other side gilded with flowers.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Not all were asleep during the night of our forefathers!”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“;There are no tyrants where there are no slaves.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“;Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“;It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted in the field without becoming part of an edifice.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“;You must shatter the vase to spread its perfume, and smite the rock to get the spark.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“;The school of suffering tempers the spirit, the arena of combat strengthens the soul.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“;The glory of saving a country is not for him who has contributed to its ruin.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“;Pure and spotless must the victim be if the sacrifice is to be acceptable.”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“;De nobis, post haec, tristis sententia fertur!:After all this, you still speak ill of us!”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Noli Me Tángere]”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source