“North Americans don’t understand that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity.”

I never saw a contradiction between the ideas that sustain me and the ideas of that symbol, of that extraordinary figure, Jesus Christ.

Quality of life lies in knowledge, in culture. Values are what constitute true quality of life, the supreme quality of life, even above food, shelter and clothing.

I believe that all of us ought to retire relatively young.

We are going to give a little something, a few little years more, to socialism, because socialism is defunct. It dies all by itself. The bad thing is that socialism, being a victim of its Did I say socialism?

I am not a dictator, and I do not think I will become one. I will not maintain power with a machine gun.

There are enough doctors on the planet so that nobody has to die for lack of attendance.

There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust.

I do not conceive of any manifestation of culture, of science, of art, as purposes in themselves. I think the purpose of science and culture is man.

I am a Marxist-Leninist and I will be one until the last day of my life.

I’ve always considered Christ to be one of the greatest revolutionaries in the history of humanity.

All criticism is opposition. All opposition is counter-revolutionary.

The truth is that after several decades of neoliberalism, the rich are becoming increasingly richer while the poor are both more numerous and increasingly poorer.

I’m not attached to anything. I’m attached to what it feels it’s my duty, to do my duty. I think that I will die with the boots on.

Everyone is a poet at 16, but how many are poets at 50? Generally, people seem to get more conservative as they age, but in my case, I seem to have gotten more radical.

I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief.

There is nothing more agreeable than having a place where one can throw on the floor as many cigar butts as one pleases without the subconscious fear of a maid who is waiting like a sentinel to place an ashtray where the ashes are going to fall.