“He who does not love his own language is worse than an animal and a smelly fish.”

— José Rizal

This has long been attributed to Rizal as part of a poem, titled Sa Aking Mga Kabata (To My Fellow Children), he wrote at the age of 8, as quoted in " Community Celebrates Rizal Day" in Asian Journal USA (31 December 2007) http://asianjournalusa.com/community-celebrates-rizal-day-p3868-95.htm, but this has become disputed as highly unlikely in "Did young Rizal really write poem for children?" by Ambeth R. Ocampo, in Philippine Daily Inquirer (22 August 22 2011) http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/45479/did-young-rizal-really-write-poem-for-children
Disputed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update March 24, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "He who does not love his own language is worse than an animal and a smelly fish." by José Rizal?

José Rizal 64

Filipino writer, ophthalmologist, polyglot and nationalist 1861–1896

Related quotes

“He who does not speak foreign languages knows nothing about his own.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician

Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen.
Maxim 91
Maxims and Reflections (1833)

“Any man who does not make himself proficient in at least two languages other than his own is a fool”

Martin H. Fischer (1879–1962) American university teacher (1879-1962)

Fischerisms (1944)

“There's plenty more fish in the sea than Prince Jonathan," he told her softly. "And this particular fish loves you with all his crooked heart."
-George to Alanna”

Tamora Pierce The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

Source: The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

“Every one loves his country, his manners, his language, his wife, his children; not because they are the best in the World, but because they are absolutely his own, and he loves himself and his own labours in them.”

Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic

Jeder liebt sein Land, seine Sitten, seine Sprache, sein Weib, seine Kinder, nicht weil sie die besten auf der Welt, sondern weil sie die bewährten Seinigen sind, und er in ihnen sich und seine Mühe selbst liebt.
Vol. 1, p. 13; translation vol. 1, p. 18
Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit (1784-91)

“For better or for worse, music is the language of memory. It is also the language of love.”

Jodi Picoult book Sing You Home

Source: Sing You Home

“It is the ones who believe in God, who preach peace and talk of love, who have created the human jungle. Compared to man's jungle, nature's jungle is simple and sensible! In nature animals don't kill their own kind. That is part of the beauty of nature. In this regard man is worse than the other animals. The so-called "civilized" man kills for ideals and beliefs, while the animals kill only for survival.”

U.G. Krishnamurti book Mind is a Myth

Source: Mind is a Myth (1987), Ch. 1: The Certainty That Blasts Everything

“He, who begins by loving Christianity better than Truth, will proceed by loving his own Sect or Church better than Christianity, and end in loving himself better than all.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher

Aids to Reflection, "Moral and Religious Aphorisms," Aphorism 25 http://books.google.com/books?id=hEbwXNWXoBoC&q=%22He+who+begins+by+loving+Christianity+better+than+truth+will+proceed+by+loving+his+own+sect+or+church+better+than+Christianity+and+end+in+loving+himself+better+than+all%22&pg=PA74#v=onepage (1873)

“Allah, the Exalted, gave the angels intellect without desires, He gave the animals desires without intellect, and He gave both to the sons of Adam. So a man whose intellect prevails over his desires is better than the angels, whilst a man whose desire prevails over his intellect is worse than the animals.”

Ali (601–661) cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad

Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol. 60, p. 299, no.5
Regarding Knowledge & Wisdom, Religious

“Of a rich man who was niggardly he said, "That man does not own his estate, but his estate owns him."”

Diogenes Laërtius (180–240) biographer of ancient Greek philosophers

Bion, 3.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 4: The Academy

“How can he practice true compassion
Who eats the flesh of an animal to fatten his own flesh?”

Thiruvalluvar book Tirukkuṛaḷ

Verse 251.
Tirukkural

“He who does not love his own language is worse than an animal and a smelly fish.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

José Rizal 64

Related quotes

Related topics