“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.”
“Revolution is the sense of the historical moment; it is changing everything that must be changed; it is full equality and freedom; it is being treated and treating others like human beings; it is emancipating ourselves, by ourselves and with our very own efforts; it is challenging the dominant powerful forces within and outside of the social and national arena; it is defending the values one believes in at the cost of any sacrifice; it is modesty, selflessness, altruism, solidarity and heroism; it is fighting with audacity, intelligence and realism; it is never telling a lie or violating e
“The past was that of colonialism and imperialism; the future belongs to humankind, to the peoples and the revolution. And facts are proving this true in our hemisphere and elsewhere.”
“[…] our firmest column, our best troop; the only troop that is capable of winning the war all by itself: That troop is the people! No General can have more power than the people; no army can be stronger that the people […]”
“Cuba’s fate must be bright, because our people has set off, our people is standing on its feet and is determined to do anything. And when peoples rise as the Cuban people have done, when peoples set off as the Cuban people have done, with its Rebel Army at the forefront, then there is no other alternative.”
“It is important that, as from today, that the people know and understand that the Revolution could not be a task of one, two, or three days, that the evils that affect us could not be eradicated overnight, and that it would be necessary to work very hard. Just as the war was not won in a single day, […], the Revolution would also have to be made step by step, little by little, and without any other maxim but that of the final victory.”
“You know very well that this system, this government, this Revolution has not ever been maintained by resorting to the force of the weapons. This Revolution has been maintained and is still maintained by the fore of its ideas and the fairness of its cause.”
The Revolution is the most complex and the most convulsive of all historical events. It is an infallible law of all revolutions, and history teaches that no true revolution can ever fail to be an extraordinarily convulsive process. If it is not, it is not a revolution.
“The republic was not free in 1895, and the dream entertained by the ‘mambises’ was frustrated at the last minute; the Revolution did not materialize and was frustrated by its enemies. This time the Revolution has the support of the entire people, of all the revolutionaries, of the honorable militants. Its strength is so big and uncontrollable that this time victory is guaranteed!”
“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. ”