José Rizal

“ Knowledge is the heritage of mankind, but only the courageous inherit it.
It is better to honor a good man in life than to worship him after he is dead.
Resignation is not always a virtue; it is a crime when it encourages tyrants. ”

“ We learned later that our mother, away from us all and along in years, was ill. From the first, the alcalde believed the accusation. He was unfair in every way and treated my mother rudely, even brutally. Finally, he persuaded her to confess to what they wished by promising to set her free and to let her see her children. What mother could resist that? What mother would not sacrifice life itself for her children? ”

“ I have worked for the good of my native land, I have consecrated my life to the welfare of others.
We need criticism to keep us awake. It makes us see our weaknesses so that we may correct them.
There are three ways in which one may accompany the course of progress: in front of, beside, or behind it.
Where are the young men who will consecrate their best years, their ambitions and their enthusiasms to the welfare of their native land?
Manila skyline. Rizal’s last view of the city as the steamer, in 1882, was taking him to Spain. ”

“ The monsters came up, and in a few seconds devoured the wild boars and deer and went back toward the mountain. Only then, did the hunters recover. The more courageous took aim but his gun missed fire and the monsters escaped.
No one ever knew whether Mariang Makiling had parents, brothers and sisters, or other kin. Such persons spring up naturally, like the stones the Tagalogs call mutya. No one ever knew her real name. She was simply called Maria. No one ever saw her enter the town or take part in any religious ceremony. She remained ever the same. ”

“ DON’T forget those who, worthily, have come to want.
DON’T fail those without means who show application and ability.
DON’T associate with immoral persons or with persons of bad habits.
DON’T overlook the value to our country of new machinery and industries.
DON’T ever cease working for the prosperity and welfare of our native land.
A pipe which Rizal made, of chalk, in Fort Santiago for his last Christmas gift to his father
[87] ”

“ My life now is quiet, peaceful, retired and without glory, but I think it is useful too. I teach reading, Spanish, English, mathematics and geometry to the poor but intelligent boys here. Moreover I teach them to behave like men. I have taught the men how to get a better way of earning their living and they think I am right. We have begun and success is crowning our trials.
The Plaza of Dapitan, Island of Mindanao. The townhall appears in the lower righthand corner. Rizal made a raised map of Mindanao Island on the plaza, to teach their home geography to the Dapitan people. ”

“ Every night, Captain Delgras took me for a promenade on deck till 9 o’clock.
We passed along the east coast of Mindoro and the west coast of Panay. We came to Dapitan on Sunday, at seven in the evening. Captain Delgras and three artillerymen accompanied me in a boat rowed by eight sailors. There was a heavy sea.
The beach seemed very gloomy. We were in the dark, except for our lantern, which showed a roadway grown up with weeds.
In the town we met the governor, or commandant, Captain Ricardo Carnicero. There was also a Spanish ex-exile, and the practicante, Don Cosme. ”

“ It is a useless life which is not consecrated to a great idea.
A man keeps his independence while he holds to his own way of thinking.
If our country is ever to be free it will not be through vice and crime. ”

“ He has climbed mountains much higher than the Makiling of his native province, up to perpetual snow. He has received from experience bitter lessons, much more bitter than that sweet teaching which his mother gave him. Yet, in spite of all, the man still keeps the heart of a child. He still thinks that light is the most beautiful thing in creation, and that to sacrifice one’s life for it is worth while.
Rizal’s sacrifice of his life, on the Luneta, Manila, December 30th, 1896. He is now buried, in the imposing Rizal Mausoleum, near the scene of his execution.
[58] ”

“ It is a useless life which is not consecrated to a great idea. ”

“ Father Sanchez visited Rizal in his exile in Dapitan, and helped him start a school for the Dapitan boys
In Jesuit colleges they divide the boys into two groups or “empires,”—one Roman and the other Greek. These two “empires” are always at war. [38] The boys of one “empire” always want to outdo those of the other empire in all kinds of contests. Each group has a leader who is called “Emperor.” The “Emperor” wins his place by doing the best work and standing the highest of anyone in his group. I was put at the end of the line. I could scarcely speak Spanish, but I already understood it. ”

“ Written from Dapitan. Rizal took great interest in the education of his sisters’ children and in Germany had made for them a translation into Tagalog of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. This he embellished with many appropriate drawings and wrote out very plainly, making a book of eighty pages.
I think that I ought to mention to you a slight error which I have noticed in your letter. It is a little error which many in society make.
One should not say, “I and my sisters greet you,” but “My sisters and I greet you.” Always you have to put yourself last. ”

“ In all Filipino homes such a light burns through the night. It goes out just at day-break to awaken people by its spluttering.
My mother was teaching me to read in a Spanish reader called “The Children’s Friend.” ”

“ On this battlefield, man has no better weapon than his intelligence. ”

“ Learn, learn and think much about what you learn. Life is a very [82] serious matter. It goes well only for those who have intelligence and heart. To live is to be among men, and to be among men is to strive. ”

“ A little later my mother was proved innocent and she was set free. She came to embrace me as soon as she was free. After the vacation, in that memorable year of my mother’s release, I again had my lodgings in the Walled City. The house was in Calle Solana and belonged to a priest. My mother had not wanted me to return to Manila, saying that I already had sufficient education. Did she have a presentiment of what was going to happen to me? Can [45] it be that a mother’s heart gives her double vision?
Bust of his father, made by Rizal when 14
My future profession was still unsettled. ”

“ He was a little eccentric, sometimes being out of humor [37] and intolerant; at other times amusing himself by playing like a child.
Some of my schoolmates were interesting enough to warrant mentioning them by name. Florencio Gavino Oliva, a young man from my own province, had great talent but he did not work steadily. The same thing was true of Moisés Santiago, a mathematician and a penman. It was also true of Gonzalo Manzano, who then held the position of “Roman Emperor.”
Rizal’s favorite teacher in the Ateneo. ”

“ If, at the bottom, there was a desire to watch me, I was not afraid to let them know all about myself. I lived at the legation a little over a month, and traveled in some of the nearby provinces of Japan. At times, I was alone; at others, with the Spanish official himself, or with the interpreter. [71] While there, I learned to speak Japanese, and made a slight study of the Japanese theatre. After many offers of employment, which I refused, I sailed at last for America, about April 13th. ”

“ How pleased I was when I won my first prize, a religious picture! In the first quarter I gained another prize, with the grade “Excellent.” [40] After that I did not care to apply myself. I had foolishly become dissatisfied because of something my teacher said. Unfortunately, this continued until the end of the year and I gained only second place in all my subjects. This gave me the grade of “Excellent” but without any prize.
I spent the vacation at home and went with my eldest sister, Nening, to Tanawan, for the town festival. This was in 1873. ”

“ In the moonlight, they could see two strange, gigantic shapes coming down the mountain at full speed. Both hunters ran as fast as they could with such heavy loads. Still the strange creatures came nearer. ”

“ We were carrying prisoners loaded with chains, among whom were a sergeant and a corporal, both Europeans. The sergeant was to be shot because he had ordered his superior officer, who had misbehaved while in Mindanao, to be tied up. The soldiers who obeyed orders and tied the officer up were given twenty years’ imprisonment; and the officer himself was dismissed from the service because he had let them tie him up. ”

“ Rizal’s allegory, “The Council of the Gods” was preferred by the judges, all Spaniards. But when the envelopes containing the contestants’ names were opened, there was objection to giving first prize to a Filipino when prominent Spaniards had taken part in the contest. Rizal says that he was hissed off the stage when he appeared in answer to the reading of his name. Manila newspapers of that period dared not speak of the incident openly but there were several veiled allusions to it. One writer sarcastically said that medical students should be forbidden to write poetry. ”

“ He found that during his absence, his wife had left his home and abandoned her children. The poor man anxiously sought his wife and, at my mother’s earnest request, he took her back. They went to live in Biñan. Only a few days later the ungrateful woman plotted with a Guardia Civil officer who was a friend of ours. She accused her husband of poisoning her and charged that my mother was an accomplice. On this charge, the alcalde sent my mother to prison. ”

“ It is because Filipino children do not understand the reasons for such irregularities. Nor do they know the cause for the changes in value of the sounds of certain consonants.
Rizal when he was with Dr. Pardo de Tavera, in Paris, in 1889.
[63]
In the old times, blows fell like rain. Many pupils were whipped every day. Sometimes the schoolmaster broke the ferule and sometimes he broke the children’s hands. The first pages of their primers fell to pieces from long and hard use. The children cried. Even the monitors had to suffer at times. ”

“ CHAPTER III My Daily Life in Biñan
Many of us lived in the same house. There were my aunt, two cousins, and three half-cousins. My aunt was a very old lady, over seventy. She used to sit on the floor and read the Bible in Tagalog. One cousin was a maiden lady who liked very much to go to confession and to do penances. The other cousin, her brother, was a widower.
Rizal Monument, Biñan. It stands in front of Rizal’s maternal grandfather’s house ”

“ At [76] Fort Santiago Don Enrique Villamor, the commander, received me. He assigned me to an ordinary room containing a bed, a dozen chairs, a table, a washstand, and a mirror. The room had three windows. One, without bars, looked out on a court; another had bars, and overlooked the wall and the beach; the third served also as a door and had a padlock. Two artillerymen were on guard as sentinels. They had orders to fire on anyone who tried to make signs from the beach. ”

“ Let the Filipino work,
Let him live, let him die.
Rizal at 27. From a Hongkong photo. Taken just after Governor-General Terrero, who admired the author of Noli Me Tangere, had advised Rizal to leave the Islands to escape enemies so powerful that even his protection might not insure safety. Rizal had dared to help the Kalamba tenants to answer fully and truthfully inquiries which the Government had made regarding their landlords
[91]
[Contents]
MEMORY GEMS FROM RIZAL’S WRITINGS
Without liberty there is no light.
One evil does not correct another. ”

“ The spelling in use today by all Filipino scholars is a great improvement over the old style. I want to place the credit for this change where it belongs. These improvements are due to the studies in Tagalog of Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera alone. I have only been one of the most zealous champions of the change from the Spanish style. [65]
[Contents]
THE TURKEY THAT CAUSED THE KALAMBA LAND TROUBLE
This account was given Captain Carnicero, the Spanish commander of the Dapitan district where Rizal was in exile, in 1892.
My father was a friend of the owners of the Kalamba estate. ”

“ On this battlefield, man has no better weapon than his intelligence. He possesses no more force than he has spirit. Bring out your intelligence, then, and improve it. Strengthen and educate yourself that you may be prepared for the struggle. [83]
[Contents]
FILIPINO PROVERBS
The Proverbs and the Puzzles were published, with comments here omitted, in Truebner’s Oriental Magazine, London, June and July issues of 1889.
Rizal’s own English.
1. Low words are stronger than loud words.
2. A petted child is generally naked (i. e. poor) .
3. Parents’ punishment makes one fat. ”

“ Age 21.—Secretly left Manila, with passport of a cousin, taking at Singapore a French mail steamer for Marseilles and entering Spain at Port Bou by railroad. Money furnished. by his brother, Paciano Mercado.
June.—Absence noted at Sto. Tomás University, which owned Kalamba estate. Rizal’s father was compelled to prove that he had had no knowledge of his son’s plan in order to hold the land on which he was the University’s tenant. ”

“ Tomás University, controlled entrance to all higher institutions.
June 26.—Entered the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, then a public school, as a day scholar.
1875, June 14. Age 14.—Became a boarder in the Ateneo.
1876, March 23. Age 15.—Received the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree, with highest honors, from Ateneo de Manila.
June.—Entered Sto. Tomás University in Philosophy course.
1877, June. Age 16.—Matriculated in medical course. Won Liceo Artístico-Literario prize, in poetical competition for “Indians and Mestizos”, with poem “To Philippine Youth.” ”

“ Age 28.—In Paris, publishing Morga’s History. Published “The Philippines A Century Hence” in La Solidaridad, a Filipino fortnightly review, first of Barcelona and later of Madrid.
1890, Feb.–July. Age 29.—In Belgium and Holland, finishing El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed) , which is the sequel to Noli Me Tangere.
Published “The Indolence of the Filipino” in La Solidaridad.
Aug. 4.—Returned to Madrid to confer with countrymen on the Philippine situation, then constantly growing worse. [110]
Rizal at 28. ”