Noli Me Tangere Quotes

• I die without seeing dawn's light shining on my country... You, who will see it, welcome it for me...don't forget those who fell during the nighttime.

  Jose Rizal

  Country, Light, Shining

  Jose Rizal (2006). “Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not)”, p.381, Penguin

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• The glory of saving a country is not for him who has contributed to its ruin.

  Jose Rizal

  Country, Saving, Ruins

  Jose Rizal, Charles Derbyshire (1912). “The reign of greed: a complete English version of El Filibusterismo from the Spanish”

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• To be happy does not mean to indulge in foolishness!

  Jose Rizal

  Mean, Indulge In, Doe

  204 Copy quote

• The people do not complain because they have no voice; do not move because they are lethargic, and you say that they do not suffer because you have not seen their hearts bleed.

  Jose Rizal

  Moving, Heart, Voice

  135 Copy quote

• Genius has no country. It blossoms everywhere. Genius is like the light, the air. It is the heritage of all.

  Jose Rizal

  Country, Light, Air

  Toast to the artists Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo in Madrid, June 25, 1884.

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• I have to believe much in God because I have lost my faith in man.

  Jose Rizal

  Believe, Men, Lost

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• Why independence? If the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow.

  Jose Rizal

  Tyrants, Independence, Today

  JOSE RIZAL (1962). “THE SUBVERSIVE”

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• The example could encourage others who only fear to start.

  Jose Rizal

  Example

  85 Copy quote

• I go where there are no slaves, hangmen or oppressors; where faith does not kill; where the one who reigns is God.

  Jose Rizal

  Doe, Reign, Slave

  "Mi Ultimo Adios". Poem by José Rizal, translated by Charles Derbyshire. Stanza 13, 1897.

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• It is not the criminals who arouse the hatred of others, but the men who are honest.

  Jose Rizal

  Men, Hatred, Criminals

  140 Copy quote

• The tyranny of some is possible only through the cowardice of others.

  Jose Rizal

  Cowardice, Tyranny

  Letter to the Young Women of Malolos (translated from Tagalog by Gregorio Zaide), February 22, 1889.

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• I can concede that the government has no knowledge of the people, but I believe the people know less of the government. There are useless officials, evil, if you like, but there are also good ones, and these are not able to accomplish anything because they encounter an inert mass, the population that takes little part in matters that concern them.

  Jose Rizal

  Believe, Government, People

  298 Copy quote

• I have observed that the prosperity or misery of each people is in direct proportion to its liberties or its prejudices and, accordingly, to the sacrifices or the selfishness of its forefathers. -Juan Crisostomo Ibarra

  Jose Rizal

  Sacrifice, People, Liberty

  30 Copy quote

• Cowardice rightly understood begins with selfishness and ends with shame.

  Jose Rizal

  Selfishness, Shame, Cowardice

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• For myself I think that one wrong does not right the other, and forgiveness cannot be won with useless tears or alms to the Church.

  Jose Rizal

  Thinking, Tears, Church

  Jose Rizal (2010). “Noli Me Tangere: Translated by Leon Ma. Guerrero”, p.44, BookBaby

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• Dying people don't need medicine, the ones who remain do.

  Jose Rizal

  Medicine, People, Dying

  18 Copy quote

• Man is multiplied by the number of languages he possesses and speaks.

  Jose Rizal

  Men, Numbers, Language

  "'Los Viajes' ('Travels')". Essay by José Rizal, La Solidaridad, May 15, 1889.

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• Let us not ask for miracles, let us not ask for concern with what is good for the country of him who comes as a stranger to make his fortune and leave afterwards.

  Jose Rizal

  Country, Miracle, Stranger

  25 Copy quote

• How long have you been away from the country?" Laruja asked Ibarra. "Almost seven years." "Then you have probably forgotten all about it." "Quite the contrary. Even if my country does seem to have forgotten me, I have always thought about it.

  Jose Rizal

  Country, Seven Years, Long

  30 Copy quote

• To the questioning glance of love, as it flashes out and then conceals itself, speech has no reply; the smile, the kiss, the sigh answer.

  Jose Rizal

  Kissing, Answers, Speech

  Jose Rizal (2009). “The Social Cancer: Noli Me Tangere”, p.162, The Floating Press

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• I honor the father in his son, not the son in his father. Each one receives a reward or punishment for his deeds, but not for the acts of others.

  Jose Rizal

  Father, Son, Punishment

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• Your enemies hate you more than they hate your ideas. Should you want a project to be undone propose it. Even if it were as useful as a bishop's mire it would be rejected. Once you are defeated let the humblest-looking among you sponsor it and your enemies to humble you will approve it.

  Jose Rizal

  Hate, Humble, Ideas

  34 Copy quote

• No one has a monopoly of the true God, nor is there a nation or religion that can claim, or at any rate prove, that it has been given the exclusive right to the Creator or sole knowledge of His Being.

  Jose Rizal

  Claims, Monopoly, Given

  Annotation to "Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas" by Antonio de Morga. Translated by Austin Craig,

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• Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am /
  And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.

  Thomas Wyatt

  Seems

  1557 'Whoso List to Hunt'. The subject of the poem is thought to Be Anne Boleyn. See Bible 118:23.

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• Filipinos are not a reading people, and despite the compulsory course on the life and works of Rizal today, from the elementary to the university levels, it is accepted that the 'Noli me Tangere' and 'El Filibusterismo' are highly regarded but seldom read (if not totally ignored). Therefore one asks, how can unread novels exert any influence?

  Ambeth R. Ocampo

  Reading, People, Levels

  16 Copy quote