I'm not the poorest president. The poorest is the one who needs a lot to live. My lifestyle is a consequence of my wounds. I'm the son of my history. There have been years when I would have been happy just to have a mattress.
Interpretation
Wealth is not solely defined by material possessions but by one's inner contentment and experiences.
In this quote, José Mujica emphasizes that true poverty arises not from the lack of material wealth but from an insatiable need for possessions and comfort. Mujica reflects on his own life, highlighting how his history and experiences have shaped his values, suggesting that contentment and richness of spirit are far more important than external wealth.
In practice
In a speech about simplicity and contentment in life.
My goal is to achieve a little less injustice in Uruguay, to help the most vulnerable and to leave behind a political way of thinking, a way of looking at the future that will be passed on and used to move forward. There's nothing short-term, no victory around the corner. I will not achieve paradise or anything like that. What I want is to fight for the common good to progress. Life slips by. The way to prolong it is for others to continue your work.
We can almost recycle everything now. If we lived within our means, by being prudent, the 7 billion people in the world could have everything they needed. Global politics should be moving in that direction. But we think as people and countries, not as a species.
If we lived within our means - by being prudent - the 7 billion people in the world could have everything they needed. Global politics should be moving in that direction. But we think as people and countries, not as a species.
I can live well with what I have.I'm called 'the poorest president', but I don't feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more.
I'm called 'the poorest president', but I don't feel poor.
When you have a lot of solitude, any living thing becomes a companion.
That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of Nations is as shocking as it is true.
Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you're not saved yourself, be sure of that!
The beneficial effect of state intervention, especially in the form of legislation, is direct, immediate, and so to speak, visible, while its evil effects are gradual and indirect and lay out of sight ... Hence the majority of mankind must almost of necessity look with undue favor upon governmental intervention.
Life is all too wondrous sweet, and the world is so beautifully bewildered; it is the dream of an intoxicated divinity.
The result of the voyage does not depend on the speed of the ship, but on whether or not it keeps a true course.
If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge.
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