Simon Bolivar Quotes & Sayings

#1. The first duty of a government is to give education to the people

#2. Among the popular and representative systems of government I do not approve of the federal system: it is too perfect; and it requires virtues and political talents much superior to our own.

Simon Bolivar

#3. It is harder to maintain the balance of freedom than it is to endure the weight of tyranny.

Simon Bolivar

#4. A people that loves freedom will in the end be free.

Simon Bolivar

#5. Flee the country where a lone man holds all power: It is a nation of slaves.

Simon Bolivar

#6. To do something right it must be done twice. The first time instructs the second.

Simon Bolivar

#7. If Nature is opposed, we will fight her and make her obbey us.

Simon Bolivar

#8. War lives on despotism and is not waged with God's love.

Simon Bolivar

#9. God grants victory to perseverance.

Simon Bolivar

#10. Is it conceivable that a newly emancipated people can soar to the heights of liberty, and, unlike Icarus, neither have its wings melt nor fall into an abyss? Such a marvel is inconceivable and without precedent. There is no reasonable probability to bolster our hopes.

Simon Bolivar

#11. He who serves a revolution ploughs a sea.

Simon Bolivar

#12. Morals and lights are our first necessities.

Simon Bolivar

#13. The freedom of the New World is the hope of the Universe.

Simon Bolivar

#14. Republican democracy is overperfect and demands political virtues and talents far superior to our own.

Simon Bolivar

#15. Legislators could certainly do with a school of morals.

Simon Bolivar

#16. In the unity of our nations rests the glorious future of our peoples.

Simon Bolivar

#17. If Nature is against us, we shall fight Nature and make it obey.

Simon Bolivar

#18. Do not compare your material forces with those of the enemy. Spirit cannot be compared with matter. You are human beings, they are beasts. You are free, they are slaves.

Simon Bolivar

#19. Let the entire system of government be strengthened, and let the balance of power be drawn up in such a manner that it will be permanent and incapable of decay because of its own tenuity.

Simon Bolivar

#20. Damn it, how will I ever get out of this labyrinth?

Simon Bolivar

#21. Nations will march towards the apex of their greatness at the same pace as their education. Nations will soar if their education soars; they will regress if it regresses. Nations will fall and sink in darkness if education is corrupted or completely abandoned

Simon Bolivar

#22. When tyranny becomes law, rebellion is a right.

Simon Bolivar

#23. An ignorant people is the blind instrument of its own destruction.

Simon Bolivar

#24. When mankind was in its infancy, steeped in uncertainty, ignorance, and error, was it possible to foresee what system it would adopt for preservation.

Simon Bolivar

#25. The real discoverer of South America was [Alexander von] Humboldt, since his work was more useful for our people than the work of all conquerors.

Simon Bolivar

#26. The United States appear to be destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty.

Simon Bolivar

#27. Colombians! My last wish is for the happiness of the patria. If my death contributes to the end of partisanship and the consolidation of the union, I shall be lowered in peace into my grave.

Simon Bolivar