Category Archives: Quotes

As every second post on this site is a quote. You’ll find a deep and broad variety of quotes under this category, which overlap with several other tags and categories. Many of the quotes are larded with links for deeper reading on the subject of the quote, or connections between the subject of the quotes and other people, things, or ideas. See the Taxonomies page for more about this category.

Jacobo Arbenz Guzman

Posted on October 11, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Jacobo Arbenz Guzman: (1913-1971) Soldier and president of Guatemala (1951-54). The son of a Swiss émigré, Arbenz joined the leftist army officers who overthrew the dictator Jorge Ubico (1878-1946) in 1944. Elected president in 1951, he made land reform his central project. His efforts to expropriate idle land owned by the United Fruit Company and his alleged Communist links led to an invasion sponsored by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. When the army refused to defend Arbenz against what appeared to be a superior force, he resigned and went into exile, and the CIA installed the leader of the proxy army, Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas (1914-1957), as president.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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The Labyrinth of Solitude

Posted on October 11, 2024 | Leave a comment

“The Labyrinth of Solitude (El laberinto de la soledad, 1950; tr 1961): A book by Octavio Paz. This penetrating essay on Mexican history has probably been more widely read and is thus more influential than any of Paz’s other essays or poetry. In search of the meaning of the Mexican and, by extension, the Latin American experience, Paz singles out the conquest of the Indians by Spanish invaders as the moment the true Mexico became isolated and obscured by masks. Silence, dissimulation, machismo, hermeticism, violence, and the cult of death are the masks adopted by the Mexican to disguise his fundamental historical solitude. Paz argues, however, that solitude has become a universal part of the human condition and that all men, like the poet himself, must become conscious of this condition in order to find, in the plentitude of love and creative work, a glimpse of the way out of the labyrinth of solitude.

In the revised and supplemented edition of 1985, Paz clarifies his view of Mexican culture and history, and deals with U.S.-Mexico relations. He also reexamines the dichotomy between the “two Mexicos,” the “developed” and the “underdeveloped,” and finds that the distinction is itself an imposition of the former upon the latter. He discusses the “other” Mexico as not only a tradition and a culture, but as representing a philosophical “Other,” like the other within.

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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Spanish Language

Posted on October 11, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Spanish language: Romance language spoken in Spain and in large parts of the New World. It has more that 332 million speakers, including over 23 million in the U.S. Its earliest written materials date from the 10th century, its first literary works from c.1150. The Castilian dialect, the source of modern standard Spanish, arose in the 9th century in north central Spain (Old Castile) and spread to central Spain (New Castile) by the 11th century. In the late 15th century, the kingdoms of Castile, Leon, and Aragon merged, and Castilian became the official language of all Spain, with Catalan and Galician (effectively a dialect of Portuguese) becoming regional languages and Aragonese and Leonese reduced to a fraction of their original speech areas. Latin-American regional dialects are derived from Castilian differ from it in phonology. Spanish has almost completely lost the case system of Latin. Nouns and adjectives show masculine or feminine gender, and the verb system is generally regular, but complex.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Spanish-American War

Posted on October 4, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Spanish-American War: (1898) Conflict between the U.S. and Spain that ended Spanish colonial rule in the New World. The war originated in Cuba’s struggle for independence. The newspapers of William Randolph Hearst fanned U.S. sympathy for the rebels, which increased after the unexplained destruction of the Maine. Congress passed resolutions declaring Cuba’s right to independence and demanding that Spain withdraw its armed forces. Spain declared war on the U.S. in 1898. Commodore George Dewey led the naval squadron that defeated the Spanish fleet in the Philippines, and General William Shafter led regular troops and volunteers (including Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders) in the destruction of Spain’s Caribbean fleet near Santiago, Cuba (July 17, 1898). In the Treaty of Paris (December 10, 1898), Spain renounced all claims to Cuba and ceded Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the U.S., marking the U.S.’s emergence as a world power.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Guillen de Castro y Bellvis

Posted on October 4, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Guillen de Castro y Bellvis: (1569-1631) Spanish playwright. Of his 50-odd plays, the best remembered is Las mocedades del Cid (“The Youth of the Cid”; c.1599), on which Pierre Corneille based his Le Cid (1637). Castro’s play is notable for its naturalistic dialogue. He was one of the earliest playwrights to deal with the difficulties of marriage, as in Los mal casadas de Valencia (“The Unhappy Marriages of Valencia”). He drew heavily on traditional Castilian ballads and based three of his plays on novels by Miguel de Cervantes.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Somoza Family

Posted on October 4, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Somoza family: Family that maintained political control of Nicaragua for more then 40 years. The dynasty’s founder, Anastasio Somosa Garcia (1896-1956), became head of Nicaragua’s army in 1933 and, after deposing the elected president in 1936, ruled the country with a firm and grasping hand until he was assassinated. He was succeeded by his elder son, Luis Somoza Debayle (1922-1967), and later by his younger son, Anastasio Somoza Debayle (1925-1980), whose corrupt and brutal rule (1963-79) led to his overthrow by the Sandinistas. Somoza looted the country before leaving for Miami; he was assassinated in Paraguay.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Luis Carlos Prestes

Posted on September 26, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Luis Carlos Prestes: (1898-1990) Brazilian revolutionary. In 1924 he led a rebel force on a three-year trek through Brazil’s interior in an effort to spark a rebellion in the countryside. Though the effort failed, he became a romantic hero. He went on to lead the Brazilian Communist Party, which advocated ending payments on the national debt, nationalization of foreign-owned companies, and land reform. Imprisoned after a violent uprising in 1935, he was released after World War II and later served briefly as a senator.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Antofagasta

Posted on September 26, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Antofagasta: Seaport (population 2017 388,545), capital of Antofagasta region, northern Chile. Located on Moreno Bay, it was a Bolivian city until it was ceded to Chile in 1879. Its early growth resulted from a nitrate boom that began in 1866 and from the Caracoles silver discovery in 1870. The largest city in northern Chile, it remains a supply source for the mines and is a communications center on the Pan –American Highway.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Alcides Arguedas

Posted on September 26, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Alcides Arguedas: (1879-1946) Bolivian novelist, historian, and diplomat. Although Arguedas spent many years in Europe, especially in France, where he was Bolivian consul, his best-known writings reflect his abiding concern with the problems of his homeland. He is remembered primarily for three works, each in a different field. Pueblo enfermo (1909) is a pessimistic and controversial analysis of Bolivian society. One of the most famous of the Indianist novels, Raza de bronce (1919) describes the exploitation of Bolivian Indians by inhuman landlords. Arguedas’s most enduring work may be his five-volume Historia de Bolivia (1920-29), which covers that country’s history from 1809 to 1872).”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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Acapulco (de Juarez)

Posted on September 20, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Acapulco (de Juarez): Seaport, southwest Mexico. Situated on a deep semicircular bay, it has the best harbor on Mexico’s Pacific coast. It was discovered by Hernan Cortes in 1531, and a settlement was founded in 1550. Until 1815, it was a main depot for Spanish colonial fleets going to East Asia, and especially to Manila. It has become a major international resort for tourists attracted by its scenic beauty, climate, and excellent beaches.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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