A successful revolution hinges on not just how you wage war, but how you wield words. Fidel Castro — whose rhetoric helped turn the island of Cuba against its democratically-elected government — is a living testament to that.
Castro, who held control over Cuba for half a century, is not known for his pithiness. Indeed, over the course of his life he has often given three-hour speeches, and will answer a simple “yes” or “no” question with an entire defense of the impoverished and a searing indictment of capitalism.
Still, rhetoric is not reality. The latter finally set in for the Cuban people in the 1970s, when Cuba became the poorest nation in the Soviet bloc, plagued with disease and totalitarianism. The revolution came, thanks in part to Castro’s words, but it did not produce the paradise about which Castro waxed poetically.
With that in mind, here’s a handful of the most intense Fidel Castro quotes you’ll ever read:
“One of the greatest benefits of the Revolution is that even our prostitutes are college graduates.” - 2003, to director Oliver Stone in the documentary ComandanteJorge Rey/Getty Images
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On Santa Claus:
"The leading symbol of the hagiography of US mercantilism." - 1998
Kena Betancur/Getty Images
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On his similarity to Jesus Christ:
“I never saw a contradiction between the ideas that sustain me and the ideas of that symbol, of that extraordinary figure, Jesus Christ.” - 1985
THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images
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On capitalism and poverty:
"Capitalism has neither the capacity, nor the morality, nor the ethics to solve the problems of poverty." - 1991
Mario Tama/Getty Images
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On revolution:
“A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past." - 1961, speech on the second anniversary of the Cuban Revolution
ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/GettyImages
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On his use of violence:
“Condemn me, it does not matter: history will absolve me.” - 1953, at his trial for the raid on Moncada Barracks
ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images
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On George W. Bush:
"For a country that can read, write and think, no one can make a more eloquent criticism of the empire than Bush himself." - 2008
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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On George W. Bush, again:
"You cannot utter the word democracy, because, among other reasons, everyone in the world knows your ascent to the US presidency was a fraud." - 2004ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images
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On Jeb Bush:
"Forgive me for using the term 'fat little brother' ... It is not a criticism, rather a suggestion that he do some exercises and go on a diet, don't you think? I'm doing this for the gentleman's health." - 2005
Sean Rayford/Getty Images
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On his beard:
“I’m not thinking to cut my beard, because … my beard means many things to my country. When we have fulfilled our promise of good government, I will cut my beard.” - 1959 interview with CBS, 30 days after the start of the RevolutionISMAEL FRANCISCO/AFP/Getty Images
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On the future of US-Cuba relations:
"United States will come to talk to us when they have a black president and the world has a Latin American pope." - 1973
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
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On religion:
“If people call me Christian, not from the standpoint of religion but from the standpoint of social vision, I declare that I am a Christian.” - 2007
JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/Getty Images
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On his health:
"I have a heart of steel.” - 1972, in response to journalists asking about his heart condition
ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images
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On combatting imperialism:
“I propose the immediate launching of a nuclear strike on the United States. The Cuban people are prepared to sacrifice themselves for the cause of the destruction of imperialism and the victory of world revolution.” - 1992
MIGUEL ROJO/AFP/Getty Images
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On a good speech:
"I have concluded – maybe a little late – that speeches must be short." - 2000
ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images
Savannah Cox holds a Master's in International Affairs from The New School as well as a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Sheffield. Her work as a writer has also appeared on DNAinfo.
Based in Brooklyn, New York, John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of expertise include modern American history and the ancient Near East. In an editing career spanning 17 years, he previously served as managing editor of Elmore Magazine in New York City for seven years.
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Cox, Savannah. "The Most Intense Remarks Fidel Castro Ever Made." AllThatsInteresting.com, July 31, 2016, https://allthatsinteresting.com/fidel-castro-quotes-intense-remarks. Accessed September 11, 2025.
