Rizal's own story of his life

by José Rizal

Of your grace be seen,

Fair hope of my Fatherland!”

Prize, and the first verse of the winning poem, won by Rizal at the age of 17 in a public competition open to “Indians and Mestizos”. By these two names, the Spaniard called, and divided, the Filipinos.

My Last Thought

“Farewell, beloved Fatherland, thou sunny clime of ours,

Pearl of the Orient Ocean, our lost Paradise!

For thee my life I give, nor mourn its saddened hours;

And were’t more bright, strewn less with thorns and more with flowers,

For thee I still would give it, a welcome sacrifice.”