25 Best Emiliano Zapata Quotes On Revolution & Freedom

Check out the best Emiliano Zapata quotes that speak of freedom, justice, and the unbreakable spirit of revolution.

Emiliano Zapata was a revolutionary leader and a key figure in the Mexican Revolution, renowned for his unwavering commitment to agrarian reform and the rights of rural workers.

Born in 1879 in Anenecuilco, Mexico, Zapata rose from humble beginnings to become a powerful voice against corrupt governments and oppressive landowners, fighting fiercely for land reform.

His movement, known as Zapatismo, championed the slogan “Tierra y Libertad” (Land and Liberty), which became the rallying cry for those demanding dignity, equality, and access to land for all.

Zapata’s beliefs laid the cornerstone for lasting social change in Mexico, turning him into a symbol of resistance against injustice and oppression.

His famous declaration, “It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees,” continues to inspire movements for human rights and equality worldwide.

Tragically, he was assassinated in 1919, but his legacy as “The Great Peasant Hero of the Mexican Revolution” endures.

Here are the most famous Emiliano Zapata quotes that will remind you that real change begins when ordinary people stand up for what is right.

Top 10 Emiliano Zapata Quotes

1. “Land and Liberty!” — Emiliano Zapata
2. “I want to die as a slave to principles, not to men.” — Emiliano Zapata

   

3. “The land belongs to those who work it with their hands.” — Emiliano Zapata

   

4. “It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!” — Emiliano Zapata

   

5. “I am resolved to struggle against everything and everybody.” — Emiliano Zapata

   

6. “We do not want the peace of slaves nor the peace of the grave.” — Emiliano Zapata

   

7. “If there is no justice for the people, let there be no peace for the government.” — Emiliano Zapata

   

8. “I forgive those who murder and steal because they did it out of necessity, but a traitor never.” — Emiliano Zapata

   

9. “Ignorance and obscurantism have never produced anything other than flocks of slaves for tyranny.” — Emiliano Zapata
10. “Seek justice from tyrannical governments not with your hat in your hands but with a rifle in your fist.” — Emiliano Zapata

Best Emiliano Zapata Quotes

1. “I would rather die on my feet than continue living on my knees.” — Emiliano Zapata

   

2. “[We are] those who sacrifice themselves for the noble causes of the people.” — Emiliano Zapata

   

3. “A strong man makes a weak people. Strong people don’t need a strong man.” — Emiliano Zapata
4. “The land free, the land free for all, land without overseers and without masters.” — Emiliano Zapata
5. “We are not personalists; we are partisans of principles and not of men!” — Emiliano Zapata, Manifiestos
6. “The enemies of the country and of freedom of the people have always denounced as bandits.” — Emiliano Zapata
7. “I forgive the one who robs the one who kills because perhaps they do it out of necessity, but never the traitor.” — Emiliano Zapata
8. “One of the happiest days of my life is when I made five or six hundred pesos from a crop of watermelons I raise all on my own.” — Emiliano Zapata
9. “The one who wants to be an eagle that flies, who wants to be a worm that crawls but does not scream when someone steps on it.” — Emiliano Zapata
10. “I am determined to fight against everything, and against everyone without any bulwark, other than the trust and support of my people.” — Emiliano Zapata

Famous Quotes From Emiliano Zapata

1. “The indispensable thing is that we all go resolute to defend the common interest, and to rescue the part of sovereignty that is taken from us.” — Emiliano Zapata
2. “And not satisfied yet, he insults and hits him, flaunting the support given by the courts, because the judge, the only hope of the weak, is also at the service of the scoundrel.” — Emiliano Zapata
3. “The bourgeois, not satisfied with possessing great treasures of which nobody participates in his insatiable greed, steals the product of his work to the laborer, and the laborer.” — Emiliano Zapata
4. “Call your conscience, meditate a moment without hatred, without passions, without prejudices, and this luminous truth as the sun will inevitably emerge before you; the revolution is the only thing that can save the Republic.” — Emiliano Zapata
5. “I have risen not to enrich myself but to defend and fulfill that sacrosanct duty of the honest Mexican people, and I am willing to die at any time because I carry the purity of feeling in the heart and tranquility of conscience.” — Emiliano Zapata
6. “The revolution of 1910 erupted as an immense cry of justice that will always live in the souls of nations, as it lives freedom in the hearts of peoples to revive them, to redeem them, to lift them from abjection to which they can not be condemned, the human species.” — Emiliano Zapata
7. “The stream of people who have witnessed our efforts will answer with voices of an anathematized clarion, the legion of ‘traitors scientists’ that even in the terrible shadows of their defeat forge new chains for the people or try to crush the claim of slaves, pariahs, of automatons and lackeys.” — Emiliano Zapata

Conclusion

What are your favorite Emiliano Zapata quotes and sayings (with images) listed above? If there is a quote that we’ve missed then let us know in the comments section below.

Feel free to share these spiritual quotes with friends and family on Facebook, Tumblr, X, Instagram, Pinterest, WhatsApp, and more.