[PW] "Better to Die on Your Feet" (Quotation Query #641)

[John P. Dyson]

Quoting Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>:

>
> According to that great quotation resource, Wikipedia, "It is better to
> die on your feet than live on your knees" was originated (in a Spanish
> version, of course), not by Zapata or La Pasionara, but by Jose Marti.
> Can anyone point me to any evidence for this assertion?  John Dyson?

Fred, I find this quote attributed to José Martí, among others, but it 
is inevitably unsourced. One has the suspicion that a statement about 
Martí may well have morphed over time into one by Martí. This notion is 
made the more probable by the various ways the pronouncement appears in 
Spanish: "Es mejor...," "Prefiero...," "Es preferible...," "Más 
vale...," etc.

John Dyson
Spanish and Portuguese
Indiana University