# Eduardo Galeano's most famous quotes

From Open Veins of Latin America to The Book of Embraces: Galeano's most quoted short lines, with the book or interview they come from.

- 23 votes · 11 items
- Nov 16, 2018 · Gerardo Vázquez
- https://even.best/en/l/4794/eduardo-galeano-s-most-famous-quotes

## Top 11

1. **Fleas dream of buying themselves a dog, and nobodies dream of escaping poverty.** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — The Book of Embraces, "The Nobodies".
2. **In the end, we are what we do to change what we are.** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — The Book of Embraces, "Celebration of Contradictions/2".
3. **We are all mortal until the first kiss and the second glass.** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — The Book of Embraces (1989).
4. **Power is like a violin: you pick it up with the left and play it with the right.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Days and Nights of Love and War (1978).
5. **The international division of labour means that some countries specialise in winning and others in losing.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Open Veins of Latin America (1971), opening lines.
6. **Consumer society: a prodigious container full of nothing.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — "Dictionary of the New World Order", published in El País in 1991.
7. **The nobodies: the children of nobody, the owners of nothing.** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — The Book of Embraces, "The Nobodies".
8. **Is it legitimate to confuse the prosperity of one class with the well-being of a country?** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Open Veins of Latin America (1971).
9. **I don't believe in charity. I believe in solidarity. Charity is vertical: it goes from the top to the bottom. Solidarity is horizontal.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Interview with David Barsamian for The Progressive (collected in Louder Than Bombs, 2004).
10. **Scientists say that human beings are made of atoms, but a little bird told me that we are also made of stories.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — He said it in his May 2013 interview with Democracy Now!
11. **Democracy is a luxury of the north. The south is allowed the show.** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — The Book of Embraces, "World Map/2".

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.