Voices of Mexico
Art & Education
The real artist draws everything from his heart. - Ancient Mayan Text
When I sing I am suffering on the ground. I am a poet and the sadness flows away from me. – Nezahualcóyotl
How does one read poetry? There is no possible recipe. Each reader is a world, each selection different. - Gabriel Zaid
Education is the foundation of the happiness of nations, of families and of individuals: education makes for good parents, good children and good citizens. - Francisco Zarco
For those who hear and learn, there is good reason to heed and be silent. – Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
There is no friend as obliging as a book. –
Life & Death
The majority of Mexicans think, feel and love all things that are a little magical or mystical. –Juan Soriano
It is easy to be happy and content when life slips out smoothly like a melody; but the man that matters is the one that confronts suffering and still has his smile when everything is going wrong.
Youthful rebellion is the waiting room of mature conformity. – Francisco Martínez de la Vega
I have no faith. Faith is the inheritance of idiots. - Diego Rivera
Adversity is a mirror in which all those who truely wish to know themselves must look. – Antonio Madero
Fortune doesn’t change men, it only removes the mask. –
In the regions of the spirit there are no limits to the discovery of new worlds. – José Vasconcelos
Death is the instant in which the butterfly escapes from its cocoon; in our bodies our soul is a caterpiller and it is death who grants it life. – José Vasconcelos
Death is nothing when one dies for one’s country. - José María Morelos
To die on time is the most difficult task of life. – Jesús Silva Herzog
True happiness does not matter with whom you live it, it is living life without contradictions in your inner world. –Luis Spota
Politics
Long live the Virgen of Guadalupe and death to the Spanish dogs! –Miguel Hidalgo
Between individuals as between nations, respect for the rights of others is peace. – Benito Juárez
In the henhouse of politics the most praised hen is not the one who lays the best egg but rather the one who best knows how to boast about it. – Plutarco Elías Calles
Liberty often goes around dressed in rags, but even so, she is very beautiful, more beautiful than all the dresses of gold and silver. – Amado Nervo
The land is for those who work it. - Emiliano Zapata
Freedom, order and progress; freedom as a means, order as a foundation and progress as an outcome. –
Let men mutilate themselves and die for principles, but don’t allow principles to get mutilated and die for men. –
Government is best when people feel it least. -Luis Montes de Oca
Let no citizen impose himself and remain permanently in the exercise of power. - Porfirio Díaz (dictator of Mexico for over 30 years)
If one omits the lies and foolish remarks in politicians’ speeches the only thing left are commas, periods and etceteras. -Nikito Nipongo