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Jose Marti Thoughts

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Jose Marti, Cuban apostle for the Cuban War of Independence from Spain in the late XIX Century, left a legacy of timeless thoughts. His teaching is rich. He analyzed American society with clarity and insight. He identified good with truth. He strove to reduce abstract thought to concrete formulae of conduct, and, his ability to do so was singular. How to achieve a functional accommodation of truth, self-interest and reason was the central question posed by Marti. Chapter titles: Introduction;

I. On Liberty; II. On Social Justice; III. On Government and Politics; IV. On Morality and Human Behavior; V. On Art; VI. On Miscellaneous Subjects. Sample thoughts: 1. One just principle from the depths of a cave is more powerful than an army. 2. He who could have been a torch and stoops to being a pair of jaws is a deserter. 3. Man is not an image engraved on a silver dollar, with covetous eyes, licking lips and a diamond pin on a silver dickey. Man is a living duty, a depository of powers that he must not leave in a brute state. Man is a wing.

I do not know of a better introduction in English to Cuba's national hero and preeminent cultural icon. Ripoll has captured the essence of Marti's thought. His translations manage to convey also a large measure of the originality and brilliance of his style. Marti wrote: "Man must do good even in death, therefore I write." This little book opened a new wide expanse for Marti's apostolic mission, which is no less than the regeneration of man. To paraphrase Marti, this is not just a good book but a good work.