Cultivo una rosa blanca, En julio como en enero, Para el amigo sincero Que me da su mano franca. Y para el cruel que me arranca El corazon con que vivo, Cardo ni oruga cultivo Cultivo una rosa blanca. I have a white rose to tend In July as in January; I give it to the true friend Who offers his frank hand to me. And to the cruel one whose blows Break the heart by which I live, Thistle nor thorn do I give: For him, too, I have a white rose.
Jose MartiA genuine man goes to the roots. To be a radical is no more than that: to go to the roots.
Jose MartiCulture, which makes talent shine, is not completely ours either, nor can we place it solely at our disposal. Rather, it belongs mainly to our country, which gave it to us, and to humanity, from which we receive it as a birthright.
Jose MartiAn insatiable appetite for glory leads to sacrifice and death, but innate instinct leads to self-preservation and life.
Jose MartiEverything that divides men, everything that separates or herds men together in categories, is a sin against humanity.
Jose MartiI know that when the world surrenders, pallid, to repose, the murmur of a tranquil stream through the deep silence flows.
Jose MartiI come from all places and to all places I go: I am art among the arts and mountain among mountains. I know the strange names of flowers and herbs and of fatal deceptions and magnificent griefs. In night's darkness I've seen raining down on my head pure flames, flashing rays of beauty divine.
Jose MartiA child who does not think about what happens around him and is content with living without wondering whether he lives honestly is like a man who lives from a scoundrel's work and is on the road to being a scoundrel.
Jose MartiMen are like the stars; some generate their own light while others reflect the brilliance they receive.
Jose MartiMan is a living duty, a depository of powers that he must not leave in a brute state. Man is a wing.
Jose MartiMan 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.
Jose MartiThe spirit of a government must be that of the country. The form of a government must come from the makeup of the country. Government is nothing but the balance of the natural elements of a country.
Jose MartiA child, from the time he can think, should think about all he sees, should suffer for all who cannot live with honesty, should work so that all men can be honest, and should be honest himself.
Jose MartiOne revolution is still necessary: the one that will not end with the rule of its leader. It will be the revolution against revolutions, the uprising of all peaceable individuals, who will become soldiers for once so that neither they nor anyone else will ever have to be a soldier again.
Jose MartiDo something useful and you will have everything you want. Doors are shut for those who are dull and lazy; life is secure for those who obey the law of work.
Jose MartiEvery human being has within him an ideal man, just as every piece of marble contains in a rough state a statue as beautiful as the one that Praxiteles the Greek made of the god Apollo.
Jose MartiA knowledge of different literatures is the best way to free one's self from the tyranny of any of them.
Jose MartiNature has placed the need to see justice done in some souls, and the need to flout and affront it in others.
Jose Marti