José Rizal: Trending quotes

“Fate presented itself to some like a chinese fan--one side black, the other side gilded with flowers.”

“…Does your Excellency know the spirit of (my) country? If you did, you would not say that I am "a spirit twisted by a German education," for the spirit that animates me I already had since childhood, before I learned a word of German. My spirit is "twisted" because I have been reared among injustices and abuses which I saw everywhere, because since a child I have seen many suffer stupidly and because I also have suffered. My "twisted spirit" is the product of that constant vision of the moral ideal that succumbs before the powerful reality of abuses, arbitrariness, hypocrisies, farces, violence, perfidies and other base passions. And "twisted" like my spirit is that of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who have not yet left their miserable homes, who speak no other language except their own, and who, if they could write or express their thoughts, would make my Noli me tangere very tiny indeed, and with their volumes there would be enough to build pyramids for the corpses of all the tyrants…”

“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.”

“I go where there are no slaves, hangmen or oppressors;
Where faith does not kill; where the one who reigns is God.”

“Believing in accidents is like believing in miracles--both presuppose that God does not know the future.”

“Truth does not need to borrow garments from error.”

“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.”

“He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination.”

“One only dies once, and if one does not die well, a good opportunity is lost and will not present itself again.”

“To be happy does not mean to indulge in foolishness!”

“Today is Christmas Eve. Whether or not Christ was born exactly on this date is not important. But chronological accuracy has nothing to do with tonight's event. A grand genius had been born who preached truth and love; who suffered because of his mission; and on account of his sufferings the world has become better, if not saved. Only it gives me nausea to see how some people abuse his name to commit numerous crimes. If he is in heaven, he will certainly protest!”

“He who would love much has also much to suffer.”

“The example could encourage others who only fear to start.”

“Genius has no country. It blossoms everywhere. Genius is like the light, the air. It is the heritage of all.”

“Dying people don't need medicine, the ones who remain do.”

“I die without seeing the dawn brighten over my native land. You who have it to see, welcome it--and forget not those who have fallen during the night!”

“It is not the criminals who arouse the hatred of others, but the men who are honest.”

“; The school of suffering tempers the spirit, the arena of combat strengthens the soul.”

“I have to believe much in God because I have lost my faith in man.”