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José Martí Quotes

1853–1895 Cuba

José Julián Martí Pérez (28 January 1853 – 19 May 1895) was a Cuban nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the liberation of his country from Spain. He was also an important figure in Latin American literature.

Cuba
Essayists
Journalists
Philosophers
Poets

Also known as: Martí, José, Jose Marti

Random José Martí quote

84 quotes

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. It is a sin not to do what one is capable of doing.

Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)

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.

Our America (1891)

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.

Our America (1891)

Perhaps the enemies of liberty are such only because they judge it by its loud voice. If they knew its charms, the dignity that accompanies it, how much a free man feels like a king, the perpetual inner light that is produced by decorous self-awareness and realization, perhaps there would be no greater friends of freedom than those who are its worst enemies.

Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: José Martí (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.