We do not need the empire to give us anything.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that true strength and independence come from within rather than relying on external powers.
Fidel Castro's statement emphasizes the importance of self-sufficiency and resilience against imperial forces. It reflects the idea that a nation or a people should not depend on an empire, which often seeks to control and manipulate, but instead should strive for autonomy, self-governance, and the ability to provide for and empower themselves.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about self-reliance in community-building.
The fact is, when men carry the same ideals in their hearts, nothing can isolate them - neither prison walls nor the sod of cemeteries. For a single memory, a single spirit, a single idea, a single conscience, a single dignity will sustain them all.
The Revolution did not assume a socialist nature because of support from the U.S.S.R.; it was the other way around: support from the U.S.S.R. was produced by the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution. To such a degree, that when the U.S.S.R. disappears, Cuba keeps on being socialist.
No thieves, no traitors, no interventionists! This time the revolution is for real!
No political event can be judged outside of the era and the circumstances in which it took place.
I began revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action.
...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.
American government is like a train on a track. You have the people on the left shouting; you have the people on the right. But the train's on track. They just keep ploughing ahead.
It doesn't matter where we begin the personal/political circle, but it matters desperately that we complete it.
Politically speaking, it's always easier to shell out money for a disaster that has already happened, with clearly identifiable victims, than to invest money in protecting against something that may or may not happen in the future.
We still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry and grasping at the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised to furnish new pretenses for revenue and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without a tribute.
American government did not originate in any abstract theories about liberty and equality, but in the actual experience gained by generation after generation of English colonists in managing their own political affairs. The Revolution did not make a breach in the continuity of their institutional life.
Could you imagine if the U.N. had endorsed the war in Iraq, what our reputation would be like?
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.