Jose Rizal Quotes

On this battlefield man has no better weapon than his intelligence, no other force but his heart.

To foretell the destiny of a nation, it is necessary to open a book that tells of her past.

Filipinos don't realize that victory is the child of struggle, that joy blossoms from suffering, and redemption is a product of sacrifice.

Treat your old parents as you would like to be treated by your children later.

Ignorance is servitude, because as a man thinks, so he is; a man who does not think for himself and allows himself to be guided by the thought of another is like the beast led by a halter.

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

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

I die without seeing dawn's light shining on my country... You, who will see it, welcome it for me...don't forget those who fell during the nighttime.

It is enough for the evil people to succeed, for the good people to do nothing.

No good water comes from a muddy spring. No sweet fruit comes from a bitter seed.

The youth is the hope of our future.

Travel is a caprice in childhood, a passion in youth, a necessity in manhood, and an elegy in old age.

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

He who would love much has also much to suffer.

I wish to show those who deny us Patriotism that we know how to die for our country and convictions.

Who does not love his own tongue is far worse than a brute or stinking fish.

To be happy does not mean to indulge in foolishness!

To live is to be among men, and to be among men is to struggle, a struggle not only with them but with oneself; with their passions, but also with one's own.

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

The people do not complain because they have no voice; do not move because they are lethargic, and you say that they do not suffer because you have not seen their hearts bleed.

The glory of saving a country is not for him who has contributed to its ruin.

Why independence? If the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow.

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

It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted on the field without becoming a part of any edifice.

The tyranny of some is possible only through the cowardice of others.

Friar! What a strange name. I don't remember having created such a thing!

Cowardice rightly understood begins with selfishness and ends with shame.

Man works for an object. Remove that object and you reduce him into inaction.

Oh how beautiful to fall to give you flight, to die to give you life, to rest under your sky; and in your enchanted land forever sleep.

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.

To doubt God is to doubt one's own conscience, and in consequence it would be to doubt everything.

What is death to me? I have sown the seeds others will reap.

Man is multiplied by the number of languages he possesses and speaks.

God has made man a cosmopolite. He created seas for ships to glide on, the wind to push them, and the stars to guide them even in darkest night.

To the questioning glance of love, as it flashes out and then conceals itself, speech has no reply; the smile, the kiss, the sigh answer.

Tomorrow at 7, I shall be shot; but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. I am going to die with a tranquil conscience.

The world laughs at another man's pain.

Law has no skin, reason has no nostrils.

Let us not ask for miracles, let us not ask for concern with what is good for the country of him who comes as a stranger to make his fortune and leave afterwards.

Hold high the brow serene, O youth, where now you stand; Let the bright sheen Of your grace be seen, Fair hope of my fatherland!

The appetite is sharpened by the first bites.

There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves.

Virtue lies in the middle ground.

Necessity is the most powerful divinity the world knows – it is the result of physical forces set in operation by ethical forces.

Each one writes history according to his convenience.

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

In the Middle Ages, everything bad was the work of the devil, everything good, the work of God. Today, the French see everything in reverse and blame the Germans for it.

Climate affects bipeds in the same way it does quadrupeds.

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!

Death has always been the first sign of European civilization when introduced in the Pacific.