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It is not the form of things that must be attended to but their spirit. The real is what matters, not the apparent. In politics, reality is that which is unseen.

— José Martí The Monetary Conference of the American Republics (1891)

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Truth

More quotes by José Martí

Mankind is composed of two sorts of men — those who love and create, and those who hate and destroy.

Letter to a Cuban Farmer (1893)

A nation is not a complex of wheels, nor a wild horse race, but a stride upward concerted by real men.

A Glance at the North American's Soul Today (1886)

In night's darkness I've seen
raining down on my head
pure flames, flashing rays
of beauty divine.

Simple Verses (1891)

Once I reveled in a destiny
like no other joy I'd known:
when the warden — reading
my death sentence — wept.

Simple Verses (1891)

All is beautiful and unceasing,
all is music and reason,
and all, like diamond,
is carbon first, then light.

Simple Verses (1891)

All José Martí quotes →

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You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.

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False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

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I believe in evil. It is the property of all those who are certain of truth. Despair and fanaticism are only differing manifestations of evil.

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Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.

Ulysses S. Grant Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885)

Attribution

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