Jose Rizal (1861 – 1896)
Filipino nationalist, doctor, writer, and polymath whose works and martyred death made him a hero of the Philippine Revolution.
We want the happiness of the Philippines, but we want to obtain it through noble and just means. If I have to commit villainy to make her happy, I would refuse to do so, because I am sure that what is built on sand sooner or later would tumble down.
Man works for an object. Remove that object and you reduce him into inaction.
Fate presented itself to some like a chinese fan--one side black, the other side gilded with flowers.
Fame to be sweet must resound in the ears of those we love, in the atmosphere of the land that will guard our ashes. Fame should hover over our tomb to warm with its heat the chill of death, so that we may not be completely reduced to nothingness, that something of us may survive.
To doubt God is to doubt one's own conscience, and in consequence it would be to doubt everything.
The sea, the sea is everything! Its sovereign mass
brings to me atoms of a myriad faraway lands;
Its bright smile animates me in the limpid mornings
And when at the end of day my faith has failed me
My heart echoes the sound of its sorrow in the sands.
Each one writes history according to his convenience.
The Philippines should be grateful to you if you would write a complete history of our country from an impartial point of view.. But don't expect thanks and laurels--crowns of flowers and laurels are the inventions of free people. But perhaps your children may gather the fruit of what the father planted.
Filipinos don't realize that victory is the child of struggle, that joy blossoms from suffering, and redemption is a product of sacrifice.
He who would love much has also much to suffer.
It was a world which granted privileges to some and imposed prohibitions on others...Endowed with strength and eager to learn, one had to drag himself in a narrow prison cell when he could see an open field, a vast horizon in the distance; when he could feel the beatings of a heart; and when he believed himself entitled to enjoy the beauty of a dream.
Virtue lies in the middle ground.
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.
One only dies once, and if one does not die well, a good opportunity is lost and will not present itself again.
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.
No good water comes from a muddy spring. No sweet fruit comes from a bitter seed.
Believing in accidents is like believing in miracles--both presuppose that God does not know the future.
Necessity is the most powerful divinity the world knows--it is the result of physical forces set in operation by ethical forces.
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!
Not all were asleep during the night of our forefathers!