Men do not shape destiny. Destiny produces the man for the hour.

A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.

"I was a man who was lucky enough to have discovered a political theory, a man who was caught up in the whirlpool of Cuba's political crisis . . . discovering Marxism . . . was like finding a map in the forest."

"I began revolution with 82 men. If I had [to] do it again, I'd 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."

"I think that a man should not live beyond the age when he begins to deteriorate, when the flame that lighted the brightest moment of his life has weakened."