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José Martí: 206 quotes13 likes

“I dream of cloisters of marble
where in divine silence
the heroes, standing, rest;
at night, in light of the soul,
I speak with them: at night!
They are in a row: I walk
among the rows: the stone hands
I kiss them;
the stone eyes open;
the stone lips move;
the stone beards tremble;
they seize the sword of stone; they cry:
place the sword in the sheath!
Mute, I kiss their hand.”

José Martí

Sueño con claustros de mármol
donde en silencio divino
los héroes, de pie, reposan;
¡de noche, a la luz del alma,
hablo con ellos: de noche!
Están en fila: paseo
entre las filas: las manos
de piedra les beso: abren
los ojos de piedra: mueven
los labios de piedra: tiemblan
las barbas de piedra: empuñan
la espada de piedra: lloran:
¡viba la espade en la vaina!
Mudo, les beso la mano.
Simple Verses (1891), I dream of cloisters of marble

“One just principle from the depths of a cave is more powerful than an army.”

José Martí

Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)

“The general holds back his cavalry to a pace that suits his infantry, for if its infantry is left behind, the cavalry will be surrounded by the enemy.”

José Martí

Our America (1881)

“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.”

José Martí

Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)

“I have lived in the monster and I know its insides; and my sling is the sling of David.”

José Martí

Of the United States, in a letter to Manuel Mercado (1895), as quoted in Research : The Student's Guide to Writing Research Papers (1998) by Richard Veit, p. 143

“My poems please the brave:
My poems, short and sincere,
Have the force of steel
Which forges swords.”

José Martí

Source: Simple Verses (1891), V

“Wings I saw springing
from fair women's shoulders,
and from beneath rubble
I've seen butterflies flutter.”

José Martí

I (Yo soy un hombre sincero) as translated by Esther Allen in José Martí : Selected Writings (2002), p. 273
Simple Verses (1891)

“Poetry is the work of the bard and of the people who inspire him.”

José Martí

Poesia (1891)

“Politics and strategy are one. Nations should live in an atmosphere of self-criticism because it is healthy, but always with one heart and one mind. Stoop to the unhappy, and lift them up in your arms! Thaw out frozen America with the fire of your hearts! Make the natural blood of the nations´ course vigorously through their veins! The new American are on their feet, saluting each other from nation to nation, the eyes of the laborers shining with joy. The natural statesman arises, schooled in the direct study of Nature. He reads to apply his knowledge, not to imitate.”

José Martí

Our America (1881)

“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.”

José Martí

Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)

“A knowledge of different literatures is the best way to free one's self from the tyranny of any of them.”

José Martí

On Oscar Wilde (1882)

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

José Martí

I (Yo soy un hombre sincero) as translated by Esther Allen in José Martí : Selected Writings (2002), p. 275
Simple Verses (1891)

“The motherland is an altar, not a platform.”

José Martí

La patria es ara, no pedestal.
As quoted in José Martí : Selected Writings (2002) translated by Esther Allen, p. xxi

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

José Martí

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

“Newspapers, universities and schools should encourage the study of the country's pertinent components. To know them is sufficient, without mincing words; for whoever brushes aside even a part of the truth, whether through intention or oversight, is doomed to fall. The truth he lacks thrives on negligence, and brings down whatever is built without it. It is easy to resolve our problem knowing its components than resolve them without knowing them.”

José Martí

Our America (1881)
Original: (es) En el periódico, en la cátedra, en la academia, debe llevarse adelante el estudio de los factores reales del país. Conocerlos basta, sin vendas ni ambages; porque el que pone de lado, por voluntad u olvido, una parte de la verdad, cae a la larga por la verdad que le faltó, que crece en la negligencia, y derriba lo que se levanta sin ella. Resolver el problema después de conocer sus elementos, es más fácil que resolver el problema sin conocerlos.

Variant translation: In the newspapers, lecture halls, and academies, the study of the country's real factors must be carried forward. Simply knowing those factors without blindfolds or circumlocutions is enough — for anyone who deliberately or unknowingly sets aside a part of the truth will ultimately fail because of the truth he was lacking, which expands when neglected and brings down whatever is built without it. Solving the problem after knowing its elements is easier than solving it without knowing them.
Ref: en.wikiquote.org - José Martí / Quotes / Our America (1891)

“Let the world be grafted onto our republics, but the trunk must be our own. And let the vanquished pedant hold his tongue, for there are no lands in which a man may take greater pride than in our long-suffering American republics.”

José Martí

Our America (1881)

“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. We must say no once more. Man is not free to watch impassively the enslavement and dishonor of men, nor their struggles for liberty and honor.”

José Martí

Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)

“Man needs to go outside himself in order to find repose and reveal himself.”

José Martí

"Vivir en Sí" [To Live in Oneself] (1891)

“When a nation is invited to join in a union with another, the ignorant, bedazzled statesman might rush into it, young people enamored of beautiful ideas and lacking good sense might celebrate it, and venal or demented politicians might welcome it as a mercy and glorify it with servile words, but he who feels in his heart the anguish of the patria, he who watches and foresees, must investigate and must say what elements constitute the character of the nation that invites and the nation that is invited, and whether they are predisposed toward a common labor by common antecedents and habits, and whether or not it is probable that the fearsome elements of the inviting nation will, in the union it aspires to, be developed to the endangerment of the invited one.”

José Martí

The Monetary Conference of the American Republics (1891)