Rigoberta Menchu Quotes
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
... only those of us who carry our cause in our hearts are willing to run the risks.
I wish that a conscious sense of peace and a feeling of human solidarity would develop in all peoples.
There is not one world for man and one for animals, they are part of the same one and lead parallel lives.
unless a religion springs from within the people themselves, it is a weapon of the system.
I would get up in the morning and I would say, "How am I going to bother them today?"
Not even anthropologists or intellectuals, no matter how many books they have, can find out all our secrets.
The human being is to be respected and defended, not protected like a bird or a river.
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.
... together we can build the people's Church, a true Church. Not just a hierarchy, or a building, but a real change inside people.
The Bible has been used as a way of making us accept our situation, and not to bring enlightenment to the poor.
In Guatemala, the gap between rich and poor must be eliminated, or we will continue to be the example of conflict in America.
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.
... 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.
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.