José Rizal quotes
1861 – 1896 · Philippines, 19th century · physician, writer, scholar and reformist
About José Rizal
Born in 1861 in Calamba and executed in 1896 at Bagumbayan, José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda trained in Madrid, Paris and Heidelberg. Author of Noli Me Tangere (1887) and El Filibusterismo (1891), he argued for representation, equal rights before the law and peaceful reform of Spanish colonial institutions.
Works: Noli Me Tangere; El Filibusterismo; annotated edition of Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
Quotes
“To foretell the destiny of a nation, it is necessary to open the book that tells of her past.”
Source: Filipinas dentro de cien años (The Philippines Within a Century), opening (essay, 1889–1890) · Check the source
Disputed attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The idea is traceable to the opening argument of Rizal's essay “The Philippines Within a Century,” serialized 1889–1890.
- What remains uncertain
- The familiar English wording is a translation or paraphrase; the precise sentence is not securely established in the documentary record.
Rizal argued that a nation's future is best judged by studying its past: historical patterns of domination, resistance, education and economy reveal likely trajectories and choices. He frames this argument at the start of his essay The Philippines Within a Century to ground civic reform in evidence.