“It is not men who make history, it is history that makes men or the great figures and personalities; men interpret events, in one way or another, but they are born from history”.
“The merits of the Cuban Revolution can be measured by the fact that such a small nation has for so long been capable of putting up a resistance against the hostile policy and criminal actions carried out against our people by the most powerful empire ever in the history of mankind, the same that was in the habit of handling the countries of the hemisphere in its own way thus it underestimated a small, dependent and poor nation located a few miles off its coasts.
Without convictions about the value of conscience and its capacity to prevail over instincts, it would not be possible to even speak of a hope for change in any period of the very short history of man.
“I believe this to be a turning point in our history: the tyranny has been overthrown. The rejoicing is immense. But there is still much to be done. We mustn't fool ourselves into believing that the future will be easy; everything may be more difficult in the future. Telling the truth is the first duty of all revolutionaries. Deceiving the people, raising false hopes, always brings the worst consequences, and I feel it's necessary to warn everyone against over-optimism.”
"La especie humana vive una etapa sin precedente en la historia. Un choque de aviones militares o naves de guerras que se vigilan estrechamente u otros hechos similares, pueden desatar una contienda con el empleo de las sofisticadas armas modernas que se convertiría en la última aventura del conocido Homo sapiens".
“The great events of history are not forged in a day. Enormous tests and challenges of increasing complexity are on the horizon.”
“[…] It has been our tradition since our war of liberation; we made the war being generous, respecting our adversary, respecting our enemy. That is a basic fact of our history; if it were not so, we would not have the support of our people…”
“And remember this, remember what history teaches: that there is no halfway in these revolutionary processes, which either attain full victory or stand to be defeated; history teaches that the way is from extreme revolution to extreme reaction. And, of course, you can be sure that we will not be counted among those defeated.”
“[…] you should never have regrets over heroism; you should never have regrets over justice; you should never have regrets over courage and bravery, because precisely the courageous and the resolute people, the brave people have done the most beautiful things in history.”
“We remember what Karl Marx said: he said that the bourgeoisie had come into this world dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood -- the blood of the workers, the blood of the peasants, the blood of the youth, the blood of the revolutionary”.