José Martí quotes - page 6

Ostentatious men who are governed by self-interest will combine, whether white or black, and the generous and selfless will similarly unite. (José Martí)
Fortunately, there is a sane equilibrium in the character of nations, as there is in that of men. The force of passion is balanced by the force of interest. View quote
José Martí
White and black racists would be equally guilty of racism. View quote
José Martí
I come from all places and to all places I go. View quote
José Martí
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. View quote
José Martí
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. View quote
José Martí
Barricades of ideas are worth more than barricades of stones. View quote
José Martí
In night's darkness I've seen raining down on my head pure flames, flashing rays of beauty divine. View quote
José Martí
A nation that neglects either of these forces perishes. They must be steered together, like a pair of carriage horses. View quote
José Martí
Sane love, is not love. View quote
José Martí
One is guilty of all abjection that one does not help to relieve. (José Martí)
To give one's life is a right only when one gives it unselfishly. View quote
José Martí
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. View quote
José Martí
My poems are like a dagger Sprouting flowers from the hilt; My poetry is like a fountain Sprinkling streams of coral water. View quote
José Martí
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. View quote
José Martí
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. View quote
José Martí
The nation that buys commands, the nation that sells serves it is necessary to balance trade in order to ensure freedom the country that wants to die sells only to one country, and the country that wants to survive sells to more than one. View quote
José Martí
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. View quote
José Martí
A sincere man am I From the land where palm trees grow, And I want before I die My soul's verses to bestow. View quote
José Martí
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. Politics is the art of combining a nation's diverse or opposing factors to the benefit of its domestic well-being, and of saving the country from the open enmity or covetous friendship of other nations. View quote
José Martí
We light the oven so that everyone may bake bread in it. 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. (José Martí)
Talent is a gift that brings with it an obligation to serve the world, and not ourselves, for it is not of our making. To use for our exclusive benefit what is not ours is theft. 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. A selfish man is a thief. View quote
José Martí
Man is not an image engraved on a silver dollar, with covetous eyes, licking lips and a diamond pin on a silver dickey. Man is a living duty, a depository of powers that he must not leave in a brute state. Man is a wing. View quote
José Martí
In truth, men speak too much of danger. Let others be terrified by the natural and healthy risks of life! We shall not be frightened! Poison sumac grows in a hard-working man's field, the serpent hisses from its hidden den, and the owl's eye shines in the belfry, but the sun goes on lighting the sky, and truth continues marching across the earth unscathed. View quote
José Martí