Today marks the fifth anniversary of the death of our Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, who always supported and promoted the Cuban cultural movement.

If we refer to literature, to it we owe what we now know as the Cuban Book Institute —whose antecedents were the National Press, founded in March 1959 and the National Publishing House of Cuba, created in May 1962—, and the System of Territorial Editions.

To pay tribute to the historical leader of the Revolution, we share some of his quotes about books and literature:

Not only should reading be entertaining, but also reading that teaches us, 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.

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There are some books that have documents that should be read carefully, and in this way we must collect the best books from the best writers, from the revolutionary writers of Latin America. So that? So that the people of Cuba learn everything that concerns Latin America. Originally aired September 8, 1960

Always in textbooks or there is a lot of material that it is not possible for him to explain it in a class, or refer to all of them, to the teacher. This is supposed to help to understand, to explain a subject, but the subject has to be studied later in the texts. Originally aired April 16, 1973.

The socialist state must edit books not to earn money, it must edit books for the benefit of the people; and the people benefit not only with a specific 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. Originally aired December 22, 1991.

In other times people studied more and came to acquire a deeper culture, because they had to read many books; Even at this time, whoever knows how to discover the value of books, I am telling the truth, does not change a book on television, they do not change it. Originally aired May 30, 1992.

I suffer when I look at libraries, I suffer when I go through a list of titles of all kinds, and I regret not having my whole life to read and study. (April 18-20, 1992)

Phrases taken from Cubadebate and the Fidel Soldado de las Ideas site .