Simon Bolivar Quotes
Simon Bolivar offers fierce, grand reflections on politics, freedom and morals that push you to question authority.
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A state too expensive in itself, or by virtue of its dependencies, ultimately falls into decay; its free government is transformed into a tyranny; it disregards the principles which it should preserve, and finally degenerates into despotism. The distinguishing characteristic of small republics is stability: the character of large republics is mutability.
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Among the popular and representative systems of government I do not approve of the federal system: it is too perfect; and it requires virtues and political talents much superior to our own.
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Let us give to our republic a fourth power with authority over the youth, the hearts of men, public spirit, habits, and republican morality. Let us establish this Areopagus to watch over the education of the children, to supervise national education, to purify whatever may be corrupt in the republic, to denounce ingratitude, coldness in the country's service, egotism, sloth, idleness, and to pass judgment upon the first signs of corruption and pernicious example.
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Flee the country where a lone man holds all power: It is a nation of slaves.
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How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?
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I swear before you; I swear on the God of my parents; I swear on them; I swear on my honor and I swear on my country that I shall not give rest to my arm nor respite to my soul until I have broken the chains that oppress us by the will of the Spanish power.
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If my death contributes to the end of the parties and the consolidation of the Union, I shall go quietly to my grave.
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If Nature is against us, we shall fight Nature, and make it obey.
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In the course of history, there have been three radicals: Jesus Christ, Don Quixote, and... me.
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It is harder to maintain the balance of freedom than it is to endure the weight of tyranny.
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Legislators could certainly do with a school of morals.
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Morals and lights are our first necessities.
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The art of victory is learned in defeat.
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The freedom of the New World is the hope of the Universe.
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To do something right it must be done twice. The first time instructs the second.
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The United States seems destined by Providence to plague the American continent with misery in the name of liberty. (1829)
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The Ignorance the people live in leads them to commit mistakes against their own happiness
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Nations will march towards the apex of their greatness at the same pace as their education. Nations will soar if their education soars; they will regress if it regresses. Nations will fall and sink in darkness if education is corrupted or completely abandoned
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Do not compare your material forces with those of the enemy. Spirit cannot be compared with matter. You are human beings, they are beasts. You are free, they are slaves.
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A people that loves freedom will in the end be free.
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If Nature is opposed, we will fight her and make her obbey us.
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In the unity of our nations rests the glorious future of our peoples.
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Slavery is the offspring of darkness.
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It is harder to release a nation from servitude than to enslave a free nation.
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Our hatred knows no bounds, and the war shall be to the death.
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Is it conceivable that a newly emancipated people can soar to the heights of liberty, and, unlike Icarus, neither have its wings melt nor fall into an abyss? Such a marvel is inconceivable and without precedent. There is no reasonable probability to bolster our hopes.
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Do not adopt the best system of government, but the one most likely to succeed.
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A state too expensive in itself, or by virtue of its dependencies, ultimately falls into decay.
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Judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
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The first duty of a government is to give education to the people.
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Republican democracy is overperfect and demands political virtues and talents far superior to our own.
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When mankind was in its infancy, steeped in uncertainty, ignorance, and error, was it possible to foresee what system it would adopt for preservation.