“We have always found in the people –our people and the other peoples—such nobleness and kindness, that we feel it is precisely the people, it is precisely the masses that create noble and kind sentiments in revolutionaries.”
“[…] whenever a man must face a challenge it is a test to him: a test of his character, a test of his will, a test of his courage as a revolutionary and as a man. And the concept of man implies the willingness to face tests and challenges.”
“The enormous political and moral authority stemming from what the Bolivarian Revolution can do for the people would politically crush the reactionary forces. The revolutionary and patriotic culture and values it would bring to the Venezuelan people would definitely prevent a return to the past.”
“A people are nothing without honour, without decorum, without independence and without dignity, never mind the life of a people!”
“In Cuba we have never cultivated hatred against the American people or blamed them for the aggressions perpetrated by the governments of that country. That would have run contrary to our political doctrines and our internationalist conscience, both well-proven throughout many years, and increasingly rooted in our ideas.”
“That is man’s marvellous virtue, that he is capable of giving it all, of giving his life, of giving all for an idea, for a cause, for a noble sentiment, for a spirit of solidarity.”
“If gold were able to do more than ideals, our homeland would be lost, because gold is what our enemies have a lot of, to buy conscience. But nevertheless, all our enemies’ gold is not enough to buy the conscience of a revolutionary!”
“It is ideas that light up the world, it is ideas, and when I say ideas, I mean ideas that are just, ideas that can bring peace to the world, and put an end to the grave danger of war, or put an end to violence. That is why we talk about the battle of ideas.”
“[…]down through history really humane ideas of justice have been shown to be much more powerful than force; force leaves in its wake only dusty, contemptible ruins; humane ideas leave a luminous trail that no one will ever be able to extinguish."
“[…]They should know by now that, as far as the Cuban people is concerned, the ideals that inspire freedom, dignity, love of one’s homeland, its identity, its culture and the strictest sense of justice that human beings can conceive of are more valuable than anything on Earth..”