Daniel Salamanca

“[Salamanca was] a small, bitter man with a sallow color, with a bifacial mestizo reflection. His expressionless physiognomy and cold, sidestepped eyes do not reveal any dynamism in him. no restlessness. His 70 weighed years and his old painful illness have made this old man an irascible being, full of pettiness and spiteful [...]. His poor build, his weak limbs, and his questioning face, eternally empty, keep pace with his retarded mentality [...].”

“Salamanca believed he was capable of waging a great war from his desk.”

“The arrival of Salamanca to the presidency represented a challenge for Paraguay. On the other hand, the Bolivian politician's compatriots continued to think of his physical weakness as a sign of moral weakness.”

“We must defend the Chaco because it is ours, and it is the heritage that our elders left us; not for us, men ephemeral that we will die tomorrow, if not for our children, for our grandchildren, for the old Bolivia.”

“It is very easy to be a skilled man at the head of a powerful country. The difficult thing is to be one when representing a weak country.”

“The political friend of today is the possible enemy of tomorrow. And vice versa. All those who work by a calculation of interest in politics must take that into account. Neither give your secrets to the friend nor give the adversary blows that cannot be forgotten.”

“In general, past things come to be in the memory not as they were, but as we would like or how we wanted them to have been.”

“Our politics is a field from which morality is completely exiled.”

“What is not ephemeral in individual life, if life itself is fleeting like a dream.”

“Nothing is more ridiculous than a tyrant, whose fear is gradually losing itself.”

“From the ruins of a collapsing cause, the dust of recriminations always rises.”

“The most talented man, as he has been told many times, does a hundred foolish things in his life.”

“From extreme old age, sanity is requested. It is like asking for strength from weakness.”

“In some grocery stores there is an expressive sign that says: Today I don't trust, tomorrow I do. I have some desire to compare that sign the promises of happiness that life gives us.”

“He who does not change in this changing world, perishes. He who does not know how to transform with the times has to be eliminated by them.”

“In established interests are the most powerful force of resistance to good.”

“Every time we experience a misfortune or a setback, we need to find a culprit. We accuse the wind if there is no other.”

“All those who are not criticized, err. Those who are not watched, abuse. Those who are spoiled, become fat. Those who are applauded, are puffed up. A true superiority of spirit is needed to save oneself from those consequences.”

“The smallest evil that is inflicted on us seems to us a monstrous and horrible injustice. On the contrary, we are willing to consider the evils of others' light and to excuse and mitigate the injustices suffered by them.”

“We don't have to complain about human selfishness: everyone cares about us, and even our enemies would like to correct our defects.”