It is better to die on your feet
than live on your knees.
Dolores Ibarruri
in a 1936 speech
Many attribute the above quotation to Zapata, who said something along the same lines "It is better to die standing than to live a century on your knees." It is also often misquoted, partly because it is translated from Spanish; she actually said, "It is better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees," which doesn't sound so cumbersome in Spanish as it does in English.
It was actually coined by Dolores Ibarruri, a Spanish Communist leader, who earned a legendary reputation as an impassioned and very talented orator during the Spanish Civil War. Spanish Communist leader, who earned a legendary reputation as an impassioned orator during the Spanish Civil War. Hemingway wrote about her in 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'.
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