Philippines Quotes

“Give me ten thousand Filipino soldiers and I will conquer the world.”
― Douglas MacArthur

“The obscenities of this country are not girls like you. It is the poverty which is obscene, and the criminal irresponsibility of the leaders who make this poverty a deadening reality. The obscenities in this country are the places of the rich, the new hotels made at the expense of the people, the hospitals where the poor die when they get sick because they don't have the money either for medicines or services. It is only in this light that the real definition of obscenity should be made.”
― F. Sionil José, Ermita

“I have observed that the prosperity or misery of each people is in direct proportion to its liberties or its prejudices and, accordingly, to the sacrifices or the selfishness of its forefathers. -Juan Crisostomo Ibarra”
― José Rizal, Noli Me Tángere

“As you can see, there are quite a number of things taught in school that one has to unlearn or at least correct.”
― Ambeth Ocampo, Rizal Without the Overcoat

“Listen to your kuya, sister. Got three type kilikili.” He raises his finger. “One, that kano armpit smell like butter, burger, dollar; two, that Chinese intsik one smell like noodles, siopao, yuan; three, that bumbay one bad smell like roti, curry, rupee. Next time, find a kano who smells like butter, burger, or dollar. Curry not good. Rupee also not good, ba.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Ang Pilipino sabi ni Trono kay Giselle, at sa kumpulan ng mga kinkilig na kababaihan, ay pinaghalo-halong dugo. Sumasamba ng sabay-sabay kay Buddha at kay Kristo at sa mga anting-anting at Feng Shui. Sa dami ng nagsasabi sa kanya kung ano siya, nakalimutan na niya kung sino siya.”
― Ricky Lee, Si Amapola sa 65 na Kabanata

“Sometimes it pays not to be interested in what happened but in what did not happen.”
― Ambeth Ocampo, Rizal Without the Overcoat

“Filipinos are not a reading people, and despite the compulsory course on the life and works of Rizal today, from the elementary to the university levels, it is accepted that the 'Noli me Tangere' and 'El Filibusterismo' are highly regarded but seldom read (if not totally ignored). Therefore one asks, how can unread novels exert any influence?”
― Ambeth Ocampo, Rizal Without the Overcoat

“Pinapakita nyong mga dayuhang libro pa rin at mga dayuhang libro lang ang tinatangkilik ng mga tao. Bakit magsusugal ang mga publisher sa Pilipinong manunulat kung hindi naman pala mabili ang mga kwentong isinusulat ng mga Pilipino? At kung walang mga publisher na tatanggap ng mga trabaho ng mga Pilipinong manunulat, sino pa ang gugustong magsulat? Kung walang magsusulat, ano ang kahihinatnan ng panitikan sa bansa at sa kakayanan nating bumasa't sumulat?”
― Bob Ong, Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin

“Inevitably, though, there will always be a significant part of the past which can neither be burnt nor banished to the soothing limbo of forgetfulness— myself. I was and still am that same ship which carried me to the new shore, the same vessel containing all the memories and dreams of the child in the brick house with the toy tea set. I am the shore I left behind as well as the home I return to every evening. The voyage cannot proceed without me.”
― Luisa A. Igloria

“I knew my affection for the Philippines was equally as telling: a democracy on paper, apparently well ordered, regularly subverted by irrational chaos. A place where I'd felt instantly at home.”
― Alex Garland, The Beach

“Rizal" is a compulsory course in school, but few teachers make Rizal's novels interesting. If students are taught to enjoy Rizal's works as literature instead of as a lodemine of 'patriotic' allusions I am sure they would not mind reading and rereading the 'Noli me Tangere'.”
― Ambeth Ocampo, Rizal Without the Overcoat

“Can you imagine the feeling of being an oppressed colonial being addressed respectfully by a colonizer in the mother country?”
― Ambeth Ocampo, Rizal Without the Overcoat

“I was to discover that like the overcoat that snugly wraps Rizal in all his statues and photographs, Rizal is obscured by countless myths and preconceived ideas... Without his overcoat, Rizal was human, like you and me.”
― Ambeth Ocampo, Rizal Without the Overcoat

“Drained of faith, I kneel and hail thee as my Lord,
I ask not life, thou need not swerve the bullet,
I ask but strength to ride the wave, and
one more thing, teach me to hate”
― Joyce Shaughnessy, Blessed Are the Merciful

“Doreen Fernandez' foreword to "Rizal Without the Overcoat":

His essays remind us that history need not and should not be relegated to schoolbooks and classrooms, where it often becomes a set of names and dates to memorize and spew out on test papers. History is a living and lively account of what we were and are; it could and should be as real to each of us as stories about family or about recent and past events.. If all of that makes us understand humanity better, so does history make us understand ourselves, and our country infinitely better, in the context of our culture and our society.”
― Ambeth Ocampo, Rizal Without the Overcoat

“It was easy, one village captain told me, to identify a drug addict. It was "the aura" that gave it away. "I can tell from the eyes.”
― Patricia Evangelista, Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country

“That kiss didn’t start something. It ended every version of me that came before her.”
― Aya Canicosa

“Philippines is the only country so far, where I have not faced any hate and bigotry.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“Ang Pilipinas ang tanging bansa sa ngayon, kung saan wala akong nahaharap sa anumang poot at pagkapanatiko.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“In Intramuros, and only in Intramuros, does he ever feel at rest. He thinks to himself here are the ancient stones of Manila; here are the secrets whispered by heroes to their paramours; here, they have plotted revolutions by candlelight, in air punctuated by mosquitoes, and harm, and roses”
― Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta, Assembling Alice

“Democracy doesn't translate to a tyranny of the majority.”
― Lisandro E. Claudio, Basagan ng Trip: Complaints about Filipino Culture and Politics

“Surely, many people could live normal lives during martial law. But, for the dreamer who sought a better world, the Philippines was a dangerous place. Is it not arrogant to dismiss the suffering of many simply because the squares enjoyed cleaner streets? Freedom protects the totality of the human being; order just makes things easier for those who are comfortable to begin with.”
― Lisandro E. Claudio, Basagan ng Trip: Complaints about Filipino Culture and Politics

“The US colonization of the Philippines was brutal, but it did not end with formal independence. The Philippines has existed in a state of what Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's independence leader, referred to as 'neocolonialism': a condition in which a state is, 'in theory, independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty,' but 'in reality its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from the outside.' This was a familiar situation for many newly independent nations.
...
For decades, the development of the Philippines was hampered by collusion between the US, international institutions, domestic capitalists, and a corrupt political class, which together deprived Filipinos of basic human rights to ensure the country would remain a haven for international capital. Bello himself was referred to the situation faced by the Philippines after independence as neocolonial.”
― Grace Blakeley, Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom

“But the fact is, like my mom, most Filipinos prefer to keep history in the dark or, in these days, sold to the highest bidder.
Who can blame them.
It's kind of painful to remember.”
― Gina Apostol, La Tercera

“That was no insurrection, Colonel. We were fighting a war against your enemy. You said you came to help us. In the name of democracy--to free ourselves from tyrannical Spain. Instead, you invaded. In the treaty of Paris you paid twenty million dollars to buy our islands from the already vanquished Spain. We resisted you. Your army killed six hundred thousand Filipinos from 1899 to 1902, a war worse than Vietnam. That was no insurrection, Colonel. That was our war of independence.”
― Gina Apostol, Gun Dealers' Daughter

“Traditional Filipino dishes are the hidden gems of the culinary world, offering an unparalleled blend of mouthwatering flavors and pristine hygiene, making them a secret treasure in the universe.”
― Ferdinand Jayvee Gomez

“If the Constitution can no longer be invoked to protect our freedom of speech and expression, then we are no longer governed by law but by tyranny.”
― Cesar Nikko Caharian III

“Ang masamang balita:
sa Antipolo pa rin ang Antipolo
Ang mabuting balita: habang-buhay na tayo nandito”
― Abner E. Dormiendo, Sa Antipolo Pa Rin Ang Antipolo

“We are told that the same stories happen over and over again. So we are expected to know how this will end. But we have reason to believe this time should be different.”
― DC Mostrales