As today marks the 97th anniversary of the birth of our Commander in Chief Fidel Castro , we want to remember him from his thought associated with books and literature, since to him we owe as a major work the Revolution itself, which in just one year allowed an entire people to learn to read. and writing and that the development of culture as a tool for freedom and emancipation of the human being has always been a priority.

In addition, to him we owe the creation of the Cuban Book Institute —whose antecedents were the National Printing House, founded in March 1959 and the National Publishing House of Cuba, created in May 1962—, and the System of Territorial Editions.

To pay homage to him, we have compiled some phrases that synthesize his thoughts on books and literature:

Reading that is not only entertaining is convenient, reading that teaches us is also convenient, even if we have to pay attention; We should not be readers only of things that are very entertaining, and remain without knowing anything about others.

[…]

There are some books that have documents that should be read carefully, and in this way we must go collecting the best books of the best writers, of the revolutionary writers of Latin America. So that? So that the people of Cuba learn everything that concerns Latin America.

September 8, 1960

Always in the textbooks or there is a lot of material that it is not possible to explain it in a class, or refer to all of them, to the teacher. That is supposed to help to understand, to explain a subject, but the subject has to be studied later in the texts.

April 16, 1973

The socialist State must publish books not to earn money, it must publish books for the benefit of the people; and the people are benefited not only with a certain type of literature, but with a great variety of books and with an editorial policy that allows the population to have access to the best works created by the intelligence of man, both historical, literary and political or otherwise.

December 22, 1991

In other times people studied more and came to acquire a deeper culture, because they had to read many books; Even in these times, whoever knows how to discover the value of books, I tell the truth, does not change a book for television, does not change it.

May 30, 1992

I suffer when I see the libraries, I suffer when I review a list of titles of all kinds, and I regret not having all my life to read and study.

April 18, 1992