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José Martí Quotes
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José Julián Martí Pérez is the Cuban National Hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. During his life, he was a poet, essayist, journalist, revolutionary philosopher, translator, professor, publisher, Freemason, political theorist, and supporter of Henry George's economic reforms. Through his writings and political activity, he became a symbol for Cuba's bid for independence against Spain in the 19th century, and is referred to as the "Apostle of Cuban Independence." He also wrote about the threat of Spanish and US expansionism into Cuba. From adolescence, he dedicated his life to the promotion of liberty, political independence for Cuba, and intellectual independence for all Spanish Americans; his death was used as a cry for Cuban independence from Spain by both the Cuban revolutionaries and those Cubans previously reluctant to start a revolt.

Born in Havana, Martí began his political activism at an early age. He traveled extensively in Spain, Latin America, and the United States, raising awareness and support for the cause of Cuban independence. His unification of the Cuban émigré community, particularly in Florida, was crucial to the success of the Cuban War of Independence against Spain. He was a key figure in the planning and execution of this war, as well as the designer of the Cuban Revolutionary Party and its ideology. He died in military action during the Battle of Dos Ríos on May 19, 1895.

Martí is considered one of the great turn-of-the-century Latin American intellectuals. His written works include a series of poems, essays, letters, lectures, novel, and a children's magazine. He wrote for numerous Latin American and American newspapers; he also founded a number of newspapers. His newspaper Patria was an important instrument in his campaign for Cuban independence. After his death, one of his poems from the book, "Versos Sencillos" was adapted to the song "Guantanamera", which has become the definitive patriotic song of Cuba.

The concepts of freedom, liberty, and democracy are prominent themes in all of his works, which were influential on the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío and the Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral.

✵ 28. January 1853 – 19. May 1895
José Martí photo
José Martí: 103   quotes 13   likes

José Martí Quotes

“Man needs to suffer. When he does not have real griefs he creates them. Griefs purify and prepare him.”

José Martí

"Adúltera" [Adulterous Thoughts] (1883)

Suffering

“I am an an honest man
From where the palm tree grows,
And I want, before I die,
to cast these verses from my soul.”

José Martí

Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crece la palma
Y antes de morirme quiero
Echar mis versos del alma.
I (Yo soy un hombre sincero) as translated by Esther Allen in José Martí : Selected Writings (2002), p. 273, ISBN 0142437042
Variant translations:
A sincere man am I
From the land where palm trees grow,
And I want before I die
My soul's verses to bestow.
"A Sincere Man Am I" http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/46409-Jose-Marti-A-Sincere-Man-Am-I---Verse-I-, as translated by Manuel A. Tellechea, in Versos Sencillos: Simple Verses (1997) ISBN 1558852042
I am a sincere man
from where the palm tree grows,
and before I die I wish
to pour forth the verses from my soul.
Simple Verses (1891)

Soul , Tree

“The trees must form ranks to keep the giant with seven-league boots from passing! It is the time of mobilization, of marching together, and we must go forward in close ranks, like silver in the veins of the Andes.”

José Martí

Our America (1881)

Tree , Time

“Just as he who gives his life to serve a great idea is admirable, he who avails himself of a great idea to serve his personal hopes of glory and power is abominable, even if he too risks his life. To give one's life is a right only when one gives it unselfishly.”

José Martí

Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)

Life , Hope , Idea , Personality

“Many houses were still full of light when, at the close of March 22, the people of the Círculo returned to their homes, which were gladdened with a fleeting gladness by an hour of justice — for there are still many slaves, black and white, in Puerto Rico!”

José Martí

"The Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico" (1893)

People , Justice , Home , Light

“The whole afternoon was spent rejoicing as the demonstration spread across the city; no one walked alone for all San Juan was a single family.”

José Martí

"The Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico" (1893)

Family

“Freedoms, like privileges, prevail or are imperiled together You cannot harm or strive to achieve one without harming or furthering all.”

José Martí

Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)

Freedom

“Everything that divides men, everything that specified, separates or pens them, is a sin against humanity.”

José Martí

My Race (1893)

Men

“Liberty is the right of every man to be honest, to think and to speak without hypocrisy.”

José Martí

Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)

Thinking

“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

Dreams , Soul , Kiss , Light

“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)

Love

“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

Sincerity

“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)

Women , Spring

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

José Martí

Poesia (1891)

People

“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)

School , Nature , Knowledge , Study

“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)

Idea , Speed

“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)

Way , Literature , Knowledge

“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)

Beauty , Music , Light

“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)

Men , Horse

“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)

Universe , Parting , School , Country

“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)

World , Suffering

“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)

Men , People , Suffering , Evil

“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)

People , Beauty , Feeling , Idea

“To beautify life is to give it an object.”

José Martí

On Oscar Wilde (1882)

Life

“Sane love, is not love.”

José Martí
Love

“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. Nations should have a pillory for whoever stirs up useless hate, and another for whoever fails to tell them the truth in time.”

José Martí

Our America (1891)

Faith , Hate , Time , Truth

“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.”

José Martí

Our America (1891)

World , Idea , Time , Relation ships