Slavery is the daughter of darkness: an ignorant people is a blind instrument of its own destruction - Simón Bolívar

Flee the country where a lone man holds all power: It is a nation of slaves. - Speech spoken in Caracas on 1814, January 2nd.

The continuation of authority in the same person has frequently proved the undoing of democratic governments. Repeated elections are essential to the system of popular governments, because there is nothing so dangerous as to suffer Power to be vested for a long time in one citizen. The people become accustomed to obeying him, and he becomes accustomed to commanding, hence the origin of usurpation and tyranny.

The real discoverer of South America was [Alexander von] Humboldt, since his work was more useful for our people than the work of all conquerors.