“This revolution was not made by one class; it is an important fact. It was not done by one class, it was done by the youth; at least it was the youth that began the revolution and then the people gradually joined it; and after the youth, it was the peasants, these men who live off the land, away from the cities, because these were the first to come”.
„This Revolution is the Revolution of our people; it is the Revolution of our youth; it is the Revolution of our students. Together we achieved it. Together we defend it. We are one and the same thing and we cannot ever stop being that.“
"Trusting in our youth is like considering them the best raw material of our homeland, the best raw material of youth, of the Revolution; trusting in our youth is like seeing all what our youth can do; it is thinking of them as honourable followers of the revolutionary work; it is considering them the best followers or builders of the revolutionary work, even better than ourselves."
“What we give young people are the elements with which to judge reality, those that are right in front of them, the elements that make up the work of a revolution. What we give young people is a worthy cause to defend, a just cause, a heroic cause, a glorious cause. What we give young people is a beautiful cause. What we give young people is what the heart of every young person asks for and needs: something to fight for, a decorous path for one’s life. What we give young people is a notion of tomorrow.
“To the youngest of our revolutionaries, in particular, I recommend to be extremely demanding with themselves and to observe an iron-clad discipline. They should avoid being ambitious for power, presumptuous or boasters. They should be watchful about bureaucratic methods and mechanisms […] use science and computation without falling prey to the excessively technical and unintelligible jargon of the elitist specialists. They should always be hunger for knowledge; and perseverance, and both physical and mental exercises should be part of their lives.”
“If young people fail, everything will fail. It is my deepest conviction that young Cubans will struggle to prevent this. I have faith in you. ”
"I believe that, rather than weapons the peoples need ideas. They need a change from an inhumane, unsustainable global world that threatens life on the planet, to a just and humanitarian social order that offers humanity an opportunity to survive. The peoples need a world with a bit of drinking water and air to breathe where the necessary food is available and advanced technology can be used to produce housing, schools to educate the children, medicines to preserve human health and medical care indispensable to all, children, adolescents and the elderly".