Simón Bolívar
Venezuelan · 1783–1830
Venezuelan military and political leader who liberated much of South America from Spanish rule, whose visionary letters and addresses articulated the difficulty of freedom, the tragedy of the liberator, and the dream of continental unity.
Wikipedia ↗“Hemos sido gobernados más por el engaño que por la fuerza, y hemos sido más degradados por el vicio que por la superstición. La esclavitud es la hija de las tinieblas; un pueblo ignorante es un instrumento ciego de su propia destrucción.”
Spanish
“We have been ruled more by deceit than by force, and we have been degraded more by vice than by superstition. Slavery is the offspring of darkness; an ignorant people is a blind instrument of its own destruction.”
“Un pueblo que ama la libertad será al fin libre. Las naciones marcharán hacia el término de su grandeza con el mismo paso que camine su educación.”
Spanish
“A people that love freedom will in the end be free. Nations will march toward greatness at the same pace as their education advances. Nations march toward the terminus of their greatness with the same speed with which education progresses.”
“La continuación de la autoridad en un mismo individuo frecuentemente ha sido el término de los gobiernos democráticos. Las repetidas elecciones son esenciales en los sistemas populares.”
Spanish
“To form a stable government, you need a national spirit as the basis, the spirit that led us to free ourselves. The continuation of authority in the same individual has frequently been the end of democratic governments. Repeated elections are essential in popular systems.”
“Yo he sido elegido por la suerte para romper vuestras cadenas. Yo no he podido hacer menos de lo que he hecho, y no he podido hacer más.”
Spanish
“I have been chosen by fate to break your chains. I could not have done less than what I have done, and I could not have done more.”
“Los tres más grandes majaderos de la historia hemos sido Jesucristo, Don Quijote y yo.”
Spanish
“The three greatest fools of history have been Jesus Christ, Don Quixote, and I.”
“El que sirve una revolución ara en el mar.”
Spanish
“He who serves a revolution plows the sea.”