The 50 Best Phrases Of Emiliano Zapata, The Mythical Mexican Revolutionary
Throughout history there have been multiple revolutionary movements led by the most disadvantaged classes, often peasants and workers who decided to present armed resistance to what they considered unfair treatment by their leaders.
Many countries in Central and South America have also been involved in multiple of these conflicts, including the Mexican Revolution against the Porfiriato (period when Mexico was under the military control of Porfirio Díaz). One of the most important figures of this revolution was Emiliano Zapata, who throughout 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
Emiliano Zapata was one of the best known and iconic leaders of the Mexican Revolution During this revolution, this important leader left us a large number of reflections regarding aspects such as freedom and law. Below we leave you a small collection of phrases attributed to him.
During the Revolution, Zapata defended the right of peasants to claim what was theirs without being exploited for it.
2. I want to die 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 proposed to free themselves and obey what they considered correct and worthy
3. I forgive those who steal and those who kill, but never those who betray.
One of the things that has caused the most pain throughout history is betrayal, the willful and deceitful breaking of trust by those you believe.
4. He who wants to be an eagle, let him fly, he who wants to be a worm, let him crawl but does not scream when he is stepped on.
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 in all times have produced nothing but herds of slaves for tyranny
It is the lack of knowledge of alternatives that prevents many people from considering the possibility of organizing a change and allowing others to take advantage of it.
6. The bourgeois, not content with possessing great treasures in which no one shares in his insatiable greed, steals the product of his work from the worker and the laborer.
The author expresses and criticizes the exploitation to which the powerful subjected the peasantry at that time.
7. …and not yet satisfied, he insults and hits him, showing off the support that the courts give him, because the judge, the only hope of the weak, is also at the service of the scoundrel
Continuation of the previous sentence, it tells us about corruption in the judicial establishment.
8. The Mexican people asked, as educated people ask, peacefully, in the press and on the platform, for the overthrow of the dictatorship, but they were not listened to; He was responded to with bullets, butts and horses; and only when he repelled force with force was his complaints heard, and the tyrant, or even the scientific octopuses, saw themselves defeated and contemplated 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 due to the dissatisfaction and suffering of the most oppressed.
9. The enemies of the country and the freedoms of the people have always called bandits those who sacrifice themselves for their noble causes.
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 tell bitter truths, but I will express nothing to you that is not true, just and honestly said
Honestly telling the truth can be difficult, hard and even have severe repercussions, but it is something that is worth it to live coherently with ourselves.
11. If there is no justice for the people, let there be no peace for the government
Phrase that drives those who hear it to fight to change things.
12. Such a beautiful conquest has cost the Mexican people a terrible sacrifice, and it is a duty, an imperative duty for everyone, to ensure that this sacrifice is not sterile.
Achieving freedom is something that has cost countless tribulations and lives throughout history. That is why we must value it and ensure its maintenance.
13. We want neither the peace of slaves nor the peace of the grave
Few people really want to maintain a conflict, but this does not imply that they should allow themselves to be subdued and accept everything that is predisposed or disappear.
14. I am determined to fight against everything and everyone with no other bastion than the trust and support of my people
Esteem and loyalty are, along with the conviction that we are 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 took up arms it was to obtain the bread that the rich man’s greed denied him. He launched the revolt not to conquer illusory political rights that do not provide food, but to seek the piece of land that will provide him with 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 achieve and fulfill basic rights.
16. Many of them, to please tyrants, for a handful of coins or for bribery or bribery, are betraying and shedding the blood of their brothers.
Once again, Zapata criticizes how one’s own interests can cause causes that were originally considered just to be abandoned and betrayed.
17. What is essential is that we all go determined to defend the common interest and 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 disastrous triumph of men was reduced to replacing one despot with another who combined with his scepter of tyranny the most scandalous despotism that the stages of time record.
Zapata expresses sadness and indignation regarding how the ethics and morals that should rule power have been lost in pursuit of tyranny and own benefit.
19. I belong, sir, to a traditional race that has never degenerated nor has it 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, rather than the life of Pausanias locked alive in a tomb by his mother representing the country.
The author indicates his conviction regarding the need to fight to achieve 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 highlight the need to eliminate dictatorial practices and govern based on what the people really want.
21. I beg you and all your henchmen to address the head and not the feet for peace settlements
Zapata was considered a simple element in favor of a larger idea, and with this phrase he referred to the need for negotiations to be carried out not with the military establishment but with the president and vice president of the republic.
22. I am not speaking to the President of the Republic, whom I do not know, nor to the politician whom I distrust; I speak to the Mexican, to the man of feeling and reason, who I believe is impossible not to be moved at some point (even if only for an instant) by the anguish of mothers, the suffering of orphans, the anxieties and sorrows of the country.
Phrase that tries to reach those with power to make them see the suffering of those on whom they exercise it.
23. We did not seek the poor satisfaction of personal growth, 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 principles, the realization of ideals and the resolution of problems, the result of which must be the salvation and aggrandizement of our people
This phrase by Emiliano Zapata expresses that the Revolution was not carried out out of simple selfishness but for trying to solve the people’s problems
24. Freedom, Justice and Law!
One of Zapata’s insignia, 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 has an important role in the prevailing consideration of social movements.
26. Peace can only be restored with justice as its basis, freedom and law as its lever and support, and reform and social well-being as the dome of that building.
Society must seek to maintain order and justice as well as the well-being of all citizens who are part of it.
27. The position of the landowner with respect to the peons is entirely the same as that held by the feudal lord, the baron or the count of the Middle Ages, with respect to his servants and vassals.
The general shows that the humiliating treatment that was provided to the peasants It was typical of an ancient era and in which feudalism and vassalage reigned.
28. Do your duty and you will be worthy; Defend your right and you will be strong, and sacrifice yourself if necessary, because later the country will rise satisfied on an immovable pedestal and will let a handful of roses fall on your grave.
Phrase that indicates the need to fight for what we consider fair, no matter how much it may cost us, in order to make the world a better place.
29. I have risen not to get rich, but to defend and fulfill that sacrosanct duty that the honest Mexican people have, and I am willing to die at any time because I carry the purity of feeling in my heart and the tranquility of conscience
Zapata expresses that what he seeks 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 arable land of the Republic; From year to year they have increased their domains, for which they have had to strip the towns of their ejidos or communal fields, and the small landowners of their modest estates.
Phrase that reflects the poor distribution of wealth in Mexico at that time.
31. We await the decisive hour, the precise moment in which towns sink or are saved
Phrase that reflects doubt and uncertainty about what is going to happen, about the final results of what they worked hard to change towards a more equitable world.
32. The land 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, disposes of the person of his “pawn” at will; he pressures it if he likes; He forbids him to leave the hacienda, with the pretext that he has debts there that he will never be able to pay; and through the judges, whom the landowner corrupts with his money, and the prefects or “political chiefs,” who are always his allies, the great landowner is in reality, without consideration, lord of lives and estates in his vast lands. domains
Expression that allows us to see the abuses to which the laborers could be subjected.
34. Together we share the hazards of war, the desolation of our homes, the bloodshed of our brothers and the martial blasts of the bugles of victory
Phrase that speaks of the feelings of unity and community that are forged and that allow us to continue fighting despite the difficulties.
35. Willing not to abandon for a moment the grandiose work that we have undertaken, we will reach the end resolutely, 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 one’s own actions and their consequences.
36. They persecute me for the crime of wanting those who have always been hungry to eat
Famine, poverty and inequality These are some of the elements that aroused the indignation of the citizens and led to the revolution.
37. It is not fair that those of us who have long raised the flag of the Ayala Plan, which includes lands and freedoms, leave it in the hands of a few ambitious people who only seek wealth at the expense of the sweat of working people; that after having shed so much blood the people are mocked and left in the same condition or worse; We must not allow this for any reason and must ensure the interests of the Republic.
Zapata proclaims the need to maintain the principles that guided his actions and to continue trying to benefit the people.
38. And the fact is that the landowners, from dispossession to dispossession, today with one 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 derived their income. sustenance for themselves and their families.
In this sentence, we observe how indigenous families and peoples were little by little relegated and seeing their lands plundered.
39. But if instead of taking the side of principles, you take the side of men, dizzy by the censer of tyranny, then pretend that you have taken up the staff of Moses not to dry up the waters of the Red Sea of the revolution, but to stir them up and generate the storm that must drown us in a sea of blood and ignominy
On this occasion we are told about the need to adjust to what we consider fair, instead of letting ourselves be carried away by political figures and power.
40. Gentlemen, he who is not afraid should sign, but know that you are going to sign triumph or death
This phrase expresses, as was well known, the risk involved in embracing the revolution, with basically the two outcomes mentioned in the same phrase.
41. The Mexican nation is too rich, but that wealth, that inexhaustible wealth of gold, 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 in a few people
42. It is time to retire, it is time to leave the position to more skilled and more honest men.
Reference to the need for political change and for the dictatorship of the time to cease.
43. It would be a crime to prolong this situation of undeniable moral, economic and political bankruptcy
Continuing from the previous sentence, it tells us of the presence of serious difficulties in various areas and sectors.
44.We are supporters of principles and not of men!
What must be sought and pursued are the values that govern our behavior, not limiting ourselves to following authority figures.
45. Call your consciences, meditate for a moment without hatred, without passions, without prejudices, and this truth luminous like the sun will inevitably emerge before you: the revolution is the only thing that can save the Republic
Zapata in this sentence calls not to be carried away by prejudices or passions when evaluating the course of action to follow.
46. The capitalist, the soldier and the ruler had lived peacefully, without being disturbed in their privileges or their properties, at the cost of the sacrifice of a slave and illiterate people, without assets and without a future, who were condemned to work without rest. and to die of hunger and exhaustion, since, spending all his energy in producing incalculable treasures, he was not able to have even the essentials to satisfy his most urgent needs.
The social inequality prevailing at the time generated a great difference between the lives of people from a low social class and with few resources and those with a higher socioeconomic level.
47. The trail of people that has witnessed our efforts will respond with anathematized clarion voices to the legion of “scientific traitors” who, even in the terrifying shadows of their defeat, forge new chains for the people or try to crush the demand for slaves, for outcasts. of automatons and lackeys
In this phrase, Zapata indicates that those who try to slander the objectives of his initiative will find themselves contradicted by those who have truly seen and experienced the progress made.
48. The revolution of 1910 broke out as an immense cry for justice that will always live in the soul of nations as freedom lives in the hearts of people to enliven them, to redeem them, to lift them from the abjection to which they cannot be condemned. the human species
Emiliano Zapata speaks in this phrase of the revolution as a movement aimed at recovering justice and freedom.
49. Land and Freedom!
Another proclamation 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 lifetime kneeling
This phrase has generally been attributed to Emiliano Zapata, although there are doubts as to whether it originated from him or from Dolores Ibárruri, also known as La Pasionaria.
