# The most famous lines from Martín Fierro

'Here I start to sing', 'let brothers be united' and old Vizcacha's advice: the lines from José Hernández's poem (1872 and 1879) that Argentines know by heart, with their canto, checked against the text.

- 143 votes · 13 items
- Dec 2, 2020 · reviewer_lost
- https://even.best/en/l/4573/the-most-famous-lines-from-martin-fierro

## Top 13

1. **Here I start to sing to the beat of my guitar, for the man kept awake by an extraordinary sorrow, like the lonely bird, finds comfort in singing.** (15 · ▲16 ▼1) — The Gaucho Martín Fierro, canto I: the poem's opening.
2. **Let brothers be united, for that is the first law… for if they fight among themselves, outsiders will devour them.** (12 · ▲13 ▼1) — The Return of Martín Fierro, canto XXXII: Fierro's advice to his sons.
3. **My glory is to live as free as the bird in the sky; I build no nest on this ground where there is so much to suffer.** (12 · ▲12 ▼0) — The Gaucho Martín Fierro, canto I.
4. **And let all who hear the tale of my sorrows know that I never fight or kill except when I must.** (11 · ▲13 ▼2) — The Gaucho Martín Fierro, canto I.
5. **Opportunity is like iron: you must strike it while it's hot.** (10 · ▲10 ▼0) — The Return of Martín Fierro, canto XXXII.
6. **I'm a bull in my own herd and a great bull in anyone else's.** (9 · ▲11 ▼2) — The Gaucho Martín Fierro, canto I.
7. **The devil knows a lot for being the devil, but more for being old.** (8 · ▲9 ▼1) — Old Vizcacha, The Return of Martín Fierro, canto XV.
8. **Know that forgetting the bad is also having a memory.** (8 · ▲9 ▼1) — The Return of Martín Fierro, canto XXXIII.
9. **Make friends with the judge; don't give him cause to complain.** (6 · ▲7 ▼1) — Old Vizcacha, The Return of Martín Fierro, canto XV.
10. **The gaucho has to endure until the grave swallows him.** (6 · ▲7 ▼1) — The Gaucho Martín Fierro, canto XII.
11. **A cow that changes pasture is late to calve.** (3 · ▲6 ▼3) — Old Vizcacha, The Return of Martín Fierro, canto XV.
12. **A man must be brave if he decides to roam.** (3 · ▲6 ▼3) — The Return of Martín Fierro, canto III.
13. **Man is born with the cunning that is to be his guide.** (2 · ▲5 ▼3) — The Return of Martín Fierro, canto XXXII.

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