The 50 best phrases of Emiliano Zapata, the legendary Mexican revolutionary
Throughout history there have been multiple revolutionary movements led by the most disadvantaged classes, often peasants and workers who decided to present an armed resistance to what they considered an unfair treatment by their leaders.
Also, many countries in Central and South America have been the protagonists of many of these conflicts, among them the Mexican Revolution against the Porfirio Diaz (period in which Mexico was under the military control of Porfirio Diaz). One of the most important figures of this revolution was Emiliano Zapata, who during his career made different reflections on different aspects of life. In this article we will see several of them, in 50 phrases by Emiliano Zapata .
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The most memorable phrases of Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata was one of the most well-known and iconic leaders of the Mexican Revolution . During this revolution, this important leader left us a lot of reflections regarding aspects such as freedom and law. Then we leave you a small collection of phrases attributed to him.
1. The earth is for those who work it
Zapata defended during the Revolution the right of the peasants to claim what was theirs without being exploited for it.
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2. I want to die being a slave to principles, not to men
Exploitation and mistreatment of the lower classes were common in Mexico at that time. The author of the phrase He proposed to free himself and obey what they considered to be right and worthy .
3. I forgive the one who steals and the one who kills, but the one who betrays, never.
One of the things that has caused the most pain throughout history is the betrayal, the voluntary and captious breach of trust on the part of those you believe.
4. Who wants to be eagle to fly, who wants to be a worm that crawls but does not scream when they step on it
This phrase reflects that we all have the right to act as we want, but if we settle for what we have without doing anything to change it, we have no right to complain about it.
5. Ignorance and obscurantism at all times have produced nothing but flocks of slaves for tyranny
It is ignorance of alternatives that makes many people do not consider the possibility of organizing a change and what allows others to take advantage of it.
6. The bourgeois, not satisfied with possessing great treasures of which nobody participates in his insatiable greed, steals the product of his work to the laborer and the laborer
The author manifests and criticizes the exploitation to which the powerful subjected at that time to the peasantry.
7. ... and not satisfied yet, he insults and hits him, flaunting the support given by the courts, because the judge, the only hope of the weak, is also at the service of the scoundrel
Continuation of the previous sentence, speaks of corruption in the judicial establishment.
8. The Mexican people requested, as the educated peoples ask, peacefully, in the press and in the tribune, the overthrow of the dictatorship, but they were not heard; he was answered with bullets, with rifle butts and horsemen; and only when he repelled the force with force was it when his complaints were heard, and the tyrant, or even compared himself to scientific octopuses, were defeated and beheld the victorious people.
Before the Mexican Revolution, the Porfiriato reached the level of dictatorship and became extremely repressive, something that would end up causing the revolution in the face of the dissatisfaction and suffering of the most oppressed.
9. The enemies of the fatherland and the liberties of the peoples have always called bandits those who sacrifice themselves for the noble causes of them
This phrase tells us about the criticism by some sectors of society towards those who they try to fight to change things .
10. I will say bitter truths, but nothing will express to you that is not true, justly and honestly said
Sincerely speaking the truth can be difficult, hard and even have severe repercussions, but it is something worthwhile to live coherently with ourselves.
11. If there is no justice for the people, there is no peace for the government
Phrase that drives those who hear it to fight to change things.
12. So beautiful conquest has cost the Mexican people a terrible sacrifice, and it is a duty, an imperative duty for all, to ensure that this sacrifice is not sterile
Getting freedom is something that has cost countless tribulations and lives throughout history. That is why we should value it and seek its maintenance.
13. We do not want the peace of the slaves or the peace of the grave
Few people really want to maintain a conflict, but this does not mean that they should allow themselves to submit and accept everything that is predisposed or disappear.
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14. I am determined to fight against everything and against everyone without any bulwark other than the trust and support of my people
The esteem and loyalty are, along with the conviction of doing the right thing, elements that give us strength to fight against anything.
15. The peasant was hungry, he suffered misery, he suffered exploitation and if he rose up in arms it was to obtain the bread that the greed of the rich denied him. He launched into revolt not to conquer illusory political rights that do not feed, but to procure the piece of land that must provide food and freedom, a happy home and a future of independence.
Phrase that explains some of Zapata's motivations in the Revolution , not as something political but as something that tried to reach and supply basic rights.
16. Many of them, for pleasing tyrants, for a handful of coins or for bribery or bribery are betraying and spilling the blood of their brothers
Again, Zapata criticizes how one's own interests can cause the causes that were originally considered fair to be abandoned and betrayed.
17. The indispensable thing is that we all go resolute to defend the common interest and to rescue the part of sovereignty that is taken from us
This ruling pushes towards the search for the defense of common interests.
18. The principles were shipwrecked, and the fatal triumph of men was reduced to replacing one despot with another that his scepter of tyranny combined the most scandalous despotism recorded by the stages of time
Zapata expresses sadness and outrage regarding how the ethics and morals that should rule the power have been lost in pursuit of tyranny and the own benefit.
19. I belong, sir, to a traditional race that has never degenerated nor has been able to betray the convictions of a community, and those of its own conscience; I prefer the death of Spartacus riddled with wounds in the midst of freedom, before the life of Pausanias imprisoned alive in a grave by his mother in representation of the fatherland
The author indicates his conviction regarding the need to fight for freedom.
20. If you move away from that old mold of dictatorships and are inspired by the purest patriotism, putting aside the traitors of the institutions, listening to the voice of the revolution, which is the voice of the people, then you will have conquered the esteem and applause of his compatriots
Phrase that seeks to make see the need to eliminate dictatorial practices and govern according to what the people really want.
21. I pray to you and all your henchmen to address the head and not the feet for peace arrangements
Zapata was considered a simple element in favor of a larger idea, and with this phrase referred to the need for negotiations to be made not with the military but with the president and vice president of the republic.
22. I do not speak to the President of the Republic, whom I do not know, nor to the politician I distrust; I speak to the Mexican, to the man of feeling and reason, whom I believe impossible not to touch ever (even for a moment) the anguish of the mothers, the sufferings of the orphans, the anxieties and the anguish of the fatherland.
Phrase that tries to reach those with power to make them see the suffering of those who exercise it.
23. We did not seek the poor satisfaction of personal wealth, nor did we long for the sad vanity of honors, nor do we want anything other than the true triumph of honors, nor do we want anything other than the true triumph of the cause, consisting of the implementation of the principles, the realization of the ideals and the resolution of the problems, the result of which must be the salvation and aggrandizement of our people
This phrase of Emiliano Zapata expresses that the Revolution was not carried out by simple egoism but for trying to solve the problems of the people .
24. Freedom, Justice and Law!
One of Zapata's badges, this phrase expresses what he intended to achieve with the revolution.
25. My personality and that of mine have been villainously slandered by the banal and corrupt press of Mexico City
This phrase reflects how the media have an important role in regard to the prevailing consideration of social movements.
26. Peace can only be restored by taking justice as its base, by leveraging and sustaining freedom and the right and domination of that building, reform and social welfare
Society must seek the maintenance of order and justice as well as the welfare of all citizens who are part of it.
27. The position of the hacendado with respect to the laborers, is entirely equal to that held by the feudal lord, the baron or the count of the Middle Ages, with respect to his servants and vassals
The general lets see that the humiliating treatment that was provided to the peasants It was typical of an ancient era and in which feudalism and vassalage prevailed.
28. Do your duty and you will be worthy; defend your right and you will be strong, and sacrifice yourself if necessary, that later the country will rise satisfied on an unshakable pedestal and drop on your grave a handful of roses
Phrase that indicates the need to fight for what we consider fair, however much it may cost us, in order to make the world a better place.
29. I have risen not to enrich myself, but to defend and fulfill that sacrosanct duty of the honest Mexican people, and I am willing to die at any time because I carry the purity of feeling in the heart and tranquility of conscience.
Zapata expresses that he is looking for it with the revolution and the armed uprising is not his own benefit but that of the people as a whole.
30. A few hundred large landowners have monopolized all the working land of the Republic; from year to year they have increased their domains, for which they have had to strip the peoples of their ejidos or communal fields, and the small owners of their modest estates
Phrase that reflects the poor distribution of wealth in the Mexico of that era.
31. We await the decisive hour, the precise moment in which the people sink or are saved
Phrase that reflects the doubt and uncertainty before what is going to happen, before the final results of that in which they tried to achieve to change towards a more equitable world.
32. The earth will return to those who work it with their hands
Zapata defends the right of that those who work the land can dispose of it .
33. The landowner, in Mexico, arranges at his whim the person of his "pawn"; reduce it to pressure if you like; he forbids him to leave the hacienda, on the pretext that he has debts that he will never be able to pay; and by means of the judges, which the landowner corrupts with his money, and of the prefects or "political chiefs", who are always his allies, the great landowner is in reality, without consideration, lord of lives and haciendas in his vast Domains
Expression that lets us see the abuses to which the pawns could be subjected.
34. Together we share the hazards of war, the desolation of our homes, the bloodshed of our brothers and the martial touches of the trumpets of victory
Phrase that speaks of the feelings of union and community that are forged and that allow us to continue fighting despite the difficulties.
35. Willing not to abandon for a moment the great work we have undertaken, we will arrive resolutely to the end, accepting before civilization and before history the responsibilities of this act of supreme vindication
In this sentence we observe the presence of a commitment to achieve the objectives despite the fact that there may be obstacles and assuming responsibility for the acts themselves and their consequences.
36. They persecute me for the crime of wanting to eat those who have always been hungry
Famine, poverty and inequality they are some of the elements that aroused the indignation of the citizens and that led to the revolution.
37. It is not fair that those of us who have long waved the banner of the Plan of Ayala, which is concretized to lands and liberties, leave it in the hands of a few ambitious people who only seek wealth at the cost of the sweat of the working people; that after having shed so much blood, the people will be mocked and left in the same or worse condition; that we should not allow for any reason and to ensure the interests of the Republic
Zapata proclaims the need to maintain the principles that guided his actions and to continue striving to benefit the people.
38. And the landowners, from dispossession to dispossession, today with a pretext and tomorrow with another, have been absorbing all the properties that legitimately belong and since time immemorial have belonged to the indigenous peoples, and from whose cultivation the latter brought out the support for themselves and their families.
In this sentence, we observe how families and indigenous peoples were gradually relegated and seeing their lands plundered.
39. But if instead of putting yourself on the side of the principles, put on the side of men, dizzy by the censer of tyranny, then pretend that you have taken the rod of Moses not to drain the waters of the Red Sea of the revolution, but to shake them and generate the storm that should drown us in a sea of blood and ignominy
We are told this time about the need to adjust to what we consider fair, instead of being carried away by political figures and power.
40. Gentlemen, do not be afraid to sign, but know that you will sign the triumph or death
This phrase expresses how well it was known the risk that supposed to take advantage of the revolution, basically existing the two outcomes mentioned in the same sentence.
41. The Mexican nation is too rich, but that wealth, that inexhaustible gold flow, belonging to more than 15 million inhabitants, is in the hands of a few thousand capitalists and, of them, a large part are not Mexicans.
Once again we are told about the presence of inequality and justice in wealth and well-being, concentrating power and money on a few people .
42. It's time to retire, it's time to leave the job to more skilled and more honest men.
Reference to the need for a political change and that the dictatorship of the time cease.
43. It would be a crime to prolong this situation of undeniable moral, economic and political bankruptcy
Continuation of the previous sentence, narrates the presence of serious difficulties in various areas and sectors.
44. We are in favor of principles and not of men!
What is to be sought and pursued are the values that govern our conduct, not limiting ourselves to following authority figures.
45. Call your consciences, meditate a moment without hatred, without passions, without prejudices, and this luminous truth as the sun will inevitably emerge before you: the revolution is the only thing that can save the Republic
Zapata in this sentence call not to be carried away by prejudices or passions when assessing the course of action to follow.
46. The capitalist, the soldier and the ruler had lived quietly, without being disturbed either in their privileges or in their properties, at the cost of the sacrifice of a slave and illiterate people, without patrimony and without future, who was condemned to work tirelessly and die of hunger and exhaustion, since, spending all their energies to produce incalculable treasures, it was not given to have even the indispensable to meet their most urgent needs
The prevailing social inequality at that time generated a great difference between the lives of people of low social class and with few resources and those of a higher socioeconomic level.
47. The stream of peoples who have witnessed our efforts will answer with voices of an anathematized clarion the legion of "traitors scientists" that even in the terrible shadows of their defeat forge new chains for the people or try to crush the claim of slaves, pariahs , of automatons and lackeys
In this phrase Zapata indicates that those who try to slander the objectives of their initiative will be contradicted those who have truly seen and lived the progress made.
48. The revolution of 1910 erupted as an immense cry of justice that will always live in the souls of nations as it lives freedom in the hearts of peoples to revive them, to redeem them, to lift them from abjection to which they can not be condemned the human species
Emiliano Zapata speaks in this phrase about the revolution as a movement aimed at recovering justice and freedom.
49. Earth and Freedom!
Another of the proclamations that has traditionally been associated with Zapata, although it is believed that the first to mention it was Ricardo Flores.
50. Better to die standing than to live a whole life kneeling
This phrase has been generally attributed to Emiliano Zapata, although there are doubts as to whether it originates with him or Dolores Ibárruri, also known as the Pasionaria.
