Quotes by Rigoberta Menchu - Page 1

We can only love a person who eats what we eat.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Only Love
Persons
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Impunity should be condemned in any corner of the world.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Impunity
Should
World
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When you are convinced your cause is just, you fight for it.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Convinced
Cause
Fight
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The people are the only ones capable of transforming society.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Inspire
People
Transforming
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This world's not going to change unless we're willing to change ourselves.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
This World
Willing To Change
World
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... only those of us who carry our cause in our hearts are willing to run the risks.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Running
Heart
Risk
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I would get up in the morning and I would say, "How am I going to bother them today?"
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Morning
Get Up
Today
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The human being is to be respected and defended, not protected like a bird or a river.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Bird
Humans
Rivers
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unless a religion springs from within the people themselves, it is a weapon of the system.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Religion
People
Spring
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I feel a deep emotion and pride for the honor of having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1992.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Emotion
Honor
Nobel
Nobel Peace Prize
Pride
Prize
Awarded
Having
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I wish that a conscious sense of peace and a feeling of human solidarity would develop in all peoples.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Conscious
Feelings
Wish
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There is not one world for man and one for animals, they are part of the same one and lead parallel lives.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Men
Animal
World
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Not even anthropologists or intellectuals, no matter how many books they have, can find out all our secrets.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Book
Matter
Secret
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The Bible has been used as a way of making us accept our situation, and not to bring enlightenment to the poor.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Diversity
Enlightenment
Justice
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I wasn't the only orphan in Guatemala. There are many others, and it's not my grief alone, it's the grief of a whole people.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Grief
Guatemala
People
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In Guatemala, the gap between rich and poor must be eliminated, or we will continue to be the example of conflict in America.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
America
Example
Guatemala
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... together we can build the people's Church, a true Church. Not just a hierarchy, or a building, but a real change inside people.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
People
Real
Together We Can
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We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle, or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Zoos
Past
People
Racism
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I am like a drop of water on a rock. After drip, drip, dripping in the same place, I begin to leave a mark, and I leave my mark in many people's hearts.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Dripping
Heart
People
Rocks
Water
Like
Begin
After
Am
Same
Many
Drip
Leave
Hearts
Place
Rock
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What I treasure most in life is being able to dream. During my most difficult moments and complex situations I have been able to dream of a more beautiful future.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Dream
Beautiful
Treasure
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... our reality teaches us that, as Christians, we must create a Church of the poor, that we don't need a Church imposed from outside which knows nothing of hunger.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Christian
Church
Reality
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We say no to the peace that keeps us on our knees, no to the peace that keeps us in chains, no to the false peace that denies the values and contributions of our peoples.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Chains
Deny
Knees
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It is not possible to conceive a democratic Guatemala, free and independent, without the indigenous identity shaping its character into all aspects of national existence.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Democratic
Existence
Identity
Independent
Indigenous
Aspects
Conceive
National
Shaping
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For me, to celebrate the twelfth of October is the absolute expression of triumphism, occupation and presumptuousness, and I think that history will remember those that celebrate it.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Expression
Occupation
Thinking
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We have learned that change cannot come through war. War is not a feasible tool to use in fighting against the oppression we face. War has caused more problems. We cannot embrace that path.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Peace
War
Fighting
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I think that if one's role doesn't correspond to what one says, if one's life doesn't correspond to what one preaches, if one is not true to one's people, someone else will come as a substitute.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
People
Roles
Thinking
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In my opinion, peace has not come to America, to Nicaragua, or to El Salvador. A hungry people is a people without peace. If the demands of the people are not met, what kind of peace are we talking about?
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
America
People
Talking
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Let there be freedom for the Indians, wherever they may be in the American Continent or elsewhere in the world, because while they are alive, a glow of hope will be alive as well as a true concept of life.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Alive
Elsewhere
Life Hope Freedom
Concept
Continent
Life Freedom Hope
Glow
Indians
Wherever
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It is said that our indigenous ancestors, Mayas and Aztecs, made human sacrifices to their gods. It occurs to me to ask: How many humans have been sacrificed to the gods of Capital in the last five hundred years?
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Lasts
Sacrifice
Years
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No less characteristic in a democracy is social justice. This demands a solution to the frightening indexes of infant mortality, of malnutrition, lack of education illiteracy, wages not sufficient to sustain life
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Democracy
Justice
Wages
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The indigenous peoples never had, and still do not have, the place that they should have occupied in the progress and benefits of science and technology, although they represented an important basis for this development.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Science
Technology
Benefits
Development
Indigenous
Progress
Science And Technology
Science Technology Important
Although
Basis
Occupied
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This is why Indians are thought to be stupid. They can't think, they don't know anything, they say. But we have hidden our identity because we needed to resist, we wanted to protect what governments have wanted to take away from us.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Government
Stupid
Thinking
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The problem in Guatemala is that there is no solution to the issue of human rights. The problem is militarization, it is the injust distribution of wealth. It is intolerance of the indigenous, it is discrimination and marginalization.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Guatemala
Issues
Rights
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The media and politics have never allowed our people to speak through them. The absolute marginalization of the indigenous peoples is a fact, as is sophisticated militarization. These have been the most significant ingredients in the silent war.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
War
Media
People
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To be a light to others you will need a good dose of the spiritual life. Because as my mother used to say, if you are in a good place, then you can help others; but if you're not well, then go look for somebody who is in a good place who can help you.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
God
Mother
Spiritual
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Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without democracy, democracy cannot exist without respect for the identity and worth of cultures and peoples.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Peace
Respect
Native American
People
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I resolutely believe that respect for diversity is a fundamental pillar in the eradication of racism, xenophobia and intolerance. There is no excuse for evading the responsibility of finding the most suitable path toward the elimination of any expression of discrimination against indigenous peoples.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Respect
Xenophobia
Believe
Responsibility
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The priests say the new dawn will be like the rain that fertilizes the soil before we begin to plant our corn. It will renew the natural cycle of life. The Mayan people will once again flourish. I believe in this very strongly. The holy men say we are entering a period of clarity. We are rediscovering our Mayan values.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Clarity
Corn
Dawn
Entering
Holy
Natural
Plant
Priests
Rain
Soil
Begin
Again
Cycle
Period
Flourish
Renew
Strongly
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Today the governments of Latin America should be ashamed of not havingexterminated the indigenous, at the end of the twentieth century, because weexist at the end of this century. We are not myths of the past, ruins in thejungle, or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims ofintolerance and racism.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Zoos
Government
Latin
Past
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In the case of my country, Guatemala, 65% of the inhabitants are indigenous. The constitution speaks of protection for the indigenous. Who authorized a minority to protect an immense majority? It is not only political, cultural and economic marginalization, it is an attempt against the dignity of the majority of the population.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Country
Majority
Political
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The inaction of the international community towards Guatemala is injustifiable. The community should play an active role with concrete measures and sanctions imposed, as was the case in South Africa, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Cuba and Haiti. Why for us no? Why legalize death in one place and somewhere else no? This is clear in our memories.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Iraq
Memories
Somewhere Else
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I think that nonviolence is one way of saying that there are other ways to solve problems, not only through weapons and war. Nonviolence also means the recognition that the person on one side of the trench and the person on the other side of the trench are both human beings, with the same faculties. At some point they have to begin to understand one another.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
War
Mean
Thinking
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I am deeply gladdened that 1993 has been delcared the International Year of Indigenous Peoples by the United Nations. It is the first year we have had in five hundred years. This is thanks to the struggle of many untitled, unnamed indigenous brothers who, without understanding international law, patiently walked the corridors asking for some time. Thanks to them this international year has been declared.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Brother
Struggle
Years
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The Mayas, our grandparents, always said; every human being occupies a small piece of time. Time itself is much longer, and because of this they always said that we must care for this earth while we are on it because it will be part of our children and the children of our grandchildren. They know that life is short, that it can end so soon, and that if one gets lost on the way, others will come to take their place.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Children
Grandparent
Life Is Short
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The culture of death is imposed by economic and political interests, the arrogance of power, corruption. I blame the first world for having taken our riches for so many years. I am speaking of the superpowers that dominate the life of the world. More concretely, the World Bank, the IMF. Those that have caused and tolerated the death of our people, those responsible for the plundering of the third world. Silence is also part of repression.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
People
Taken
Years
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...instead of giving a rifle to somebody, build a school; instead of giving a rifle, build a community with adequate services. Instead of giving a rifle, develop an educational system that is not about conflict and violence, but one that promotes respect for values, for life, and respect for one's elders. This requires a huge investment. Yet if we can invest in a different vision of peaceful coexistence, I think we can change the world, because every problem has a nonviolent answer.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Educational
School
Thinking
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Racism in our countries is a fact in that the indian is not allowed to be a politician or aspire to being head of state. It has reached the point that 99% of the indigenous women have not gone to school. The indigenous are condemned to live in a situation designed to exterminate them. They receive a pittance of a salary, they neither speak nor write the language, politics dictates their situation. Is this slavery? I don't know what it's called. It is not the same as before because we are in modern times.
Rigoberta Menchu / Author
Country
School
Writing
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