To be cultured is the only way to be free.

The sentence comes from “Maestros ambulantes” (“Travelling teachers”), an article José Martí published in 1884 in La América, a Spanish-language magazine printed in New York. Martí writes that people grow when they learn something, when they come to own something and when they have done some good, and that happiness exists on earth: it is won through reason, knowledge of the harmony of the universe and the constant practice of generosity. He adds a realistic nuance at once: as a rule one must be prosperous to be good, and prosperity comes from knowing and cultivating nature.

Hence the proposal that gives the article its title: teachers who would go out to the countryside to bring that knowledge to farmers. Martí was then living in exile in New York, writing for newspapers in several Latin American countries and preparing Cuba’s independence, for which he died in battle in 1895.

The sentence is often quoted in schools and speeches: it sums up his conviction that education is the foundation of freedom.

“Maestros ambulantes” (La América, New York), 1884

Original text checked word for word in the work; the translation is by quotesay.

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