José Rizal quotes - page 3

José Rizal was a Filipino nationalist, writer, and revolutionary who became a key figure in the Philippine struggle for independence from Spanish rule. His novels and writings inspired a movement that ignited Filipino pride and the quest for freedom. He is remembered as a national hero and a symbol of peaceful reform and intellectual courage. Here are 70 of his quotes:

How long have you been away from the country?" Laruja asked Ibarra. "Almost seven years." "Then you have probably forgotten all about it." "Quite the contrary. Even if my country does seem to have forgotten me, I have always thought about it.

José Rizal

I don't see why I should bow my head when I could hold it high, or place it in the hands of my enemies when I can defeat them.

José Rizal

I have observed that the prosperity or misery of each people is in direct proportion to its liberties or its prejudices and, accordingly, to the sacrifices or the selfishness of its forefathers. -Juan Crisostomo Ibarra.

José Rizal

Cowardice rightly understood begins with selfishness and ends with shame.

José Rizal

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

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

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

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

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

It breaks immortality's neck Contemplates crime and therefore halts it; It humbles barbarous nations And makes of savages, champions.

José Rizal

You must shatter the vase to spread its perfume, and smite the rock to get the spark.

José Rizal

The youth is the hope of our future.

José Rizal

I have recommended in my writings the study of civic virtues, without which there is no redemption. I have written likewise (and repeat my words) that reforms, to be beneficial, must come from above, that those which come from below are irregularly gained and uncertain.

José Rizal

No one ceases to be a man, no one forfeits his rights to civilization merely by being more or less uncultured, and since the Filipino is regarded as a fit citizen when he is asked to pay taxes or shed his blood to defend the fatherland, why must this fitness be denied him when the question arises of granting him some right?

José Rizal

Truth does not need to borrow garments from error.

José Rizal

it is finished.

José Rizal

While a people preserves its language; it preserves the marks of liberty.

José Rizal

When there is in nature no fixed condition, how much less must there be in the life of a people, beings endowed with mobility and movement!

José Rizal