Socialist ideology, like so many others, has two main dangers. One stems from confused and incomplete readings of foreign texts, and the other from the arrogance and hidden rage of those who, in order to climb up in the world, pretend to be frantic defenders of the helpless so as to have shoulders on which to stand.
— Jose Marti
The most instructive Jose Marti quotes that are new and everybody is talking about
Liberty is the right of every man to be honest, to think and to speak without hypocrisy.
Other famous men, those of much talk and few deeds, soon evaporate.
Action is the dignity of greatness.
Happiness exists on earth, and it is won through prudent exercise of reason, knowledge of the harmony of the universe, and constant practice of generosity.
We are free, but not to be evil, not to be indifferent to human suffering, not to profit from the people, from the work created and sustained through their spirit of political association, while refusing to contribute to the political state that we profit from.
To busy oneself with what is futile when one can do something useful, to attend to what is simple when one has the mettle to attempt what is difficult, is to strip talent of its dignity.
In a time of crisis, the peoples of the world must rush to get to know each other.
It is my duty to prevent, through the independence of Cuba, the U.
S.A. from spreading over the West Indies and falling with addedweight upon other lands of Our America. All I have done up to now and shall do hereafter is to that end.... I know the Monster, because I have lived in its lair--and my weapon is only the slingshot of David.
Amor cuerdo, no es amor. (Sane love, is not love)
Only those who spread treachery, fire, and death out of hatred for the prosperity of others are undeserving of pity.
One revolution is still necessary: the one that will not end with the rule of its leader. It will be the revolution against revolutions, the uprising of all peaceable individuals, who will become soldiers for once so that neither they nor anyone else will ever have to be a soldier again.
"Racist" is a confusing word, and it should be clarified.
Men have no special rights simply because they belong to one race or another. When you say "men," you have already imbued them with all their rights.
Men of action, above all those whose actions are guided by love, live forever.
But when women are moved and lend help, when women, who are by nature calm and controlled, give encouragement and applause, when virtuous and knowledgeable women grace the endeavor with their sweet love, then it is invincible.
Culture, which makes talent shine, is not completely ours either, nor can we place it solely at our disposal. Rather, it belongs mainly to our country, which gave it to us, and to humanity, from which we receive it as a birthright.
Like bones to the human body, the axle to the wheel, the wing to the bird, and the air to the wing, so is liberty the essence of life. Whatever is done without it is imperfect.
Do something useful and you will have everything you want.
Doors are shut for those who are dull and lazy; life is secure for those who obey the law of work.
If I survive, I will spend my whole life at the oven door seeing that no one is denied bread and, so as to give a lesson of charity, especially those who did not bring flour.
A selfish man is a thief.
Day and night I always dream with open eyes." - José Martí
To Educate is to Free.
Let those who desire a secure homeland conquer it.
Let those who do not conquer it live under the whip and in exile, watched over like wild animals, cast from one country to another, concealing the death of their souls with a beggar's smile from the scorn of free men.
Hatred, slavery's inevitable aftermath.
It is necessary to make virtue fashionable.
Like stones rolling down hills, fair ideas reach their objectives despite all obstacles and barriers. It may be possible to speed or hinder them, but impossible to stop them.
He who could have been a torch and stoops to being a pair of jaws is a deserter.
It is a sin not to do what one is capable of doing.
A genuine man goes to the roots. To be a radical is no more than that: to go to the roots.
One just principle from the depths of a cave is more powerful than an army.
Charm is a product of the unexpected.
Every human being has within him an ideal man, just as every piece of marble contains in a rough state a statue as beautiful as the one that Praxiteles the Greek made of the god Apollo.
Man loves liberty, even if he does not know that he loves it.
He is driven by it and flees from where it does not exist.
It is the duty of man to raise up man.
All is beautiful and unceasing, all is music and reason, and all, like diamond, is carbon first, then light.
A grain of poetry suffices to season a century.
The wretch who lives without freedom feels like dressing in the mud from the streets Those who have you, o Liberty, do not know. you. Those who do not have you should not speak of you, but win you.
The force of passion is balanced by the force of interest.
The only way to be totally free is through education.
He who receives money in trust to administer for the benefit of its owner, and uses it either for his own interest or against the wishes of its rightful owner, is a thief.
Love is the bond between men, the way to teach and the center of the world.
But love, like the sun that it is, sets afire and melts everything.
what greed and privilege to build up over whole centuries the indignation of a pious spirit, with its natural following of oppressed souls, will cast down with a single shove.
Fortunately, there is a sane equilibrium in the character of nations, as there is in that of men.
No fruit on earth can rival the cemetery's crop
Perhaps the enemies of liberty are such only because they judge it by its loud voice.
An insatiable appetite for glory leads to sacrifice and death, but innate instinct leads to self-preservation and life.
He who does not see things in their depth should not call himself a radical.
In truth, men speak too much of danger.
I know that when the world surrenders, pallid, to repose, the murmur of a tranquil stream through the deep silence flows.
Freedoms, like privileges, prevail or are imperiled together You cannot harm or strive to achieve one without harming or furthering all.
