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"Condemn me. It is of no importance. History will absolve me." -- Castro in 1953, when the young lawyer was defending himself at trial for his near-suicidal assault on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba.
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"I began the revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I would do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and a plan of action." -- Castro in 1959.
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"I'm not thinking of cutting my beard, because I'm accustomed to my beard and my beard means many things to my country. When we fulfill our promise of good government I will cut my beard." -- Castro in a 1959 interview with CBS's Edward Murrow, 30 days after the revolution.
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"I never saw a contradiction between the ideas that sustain me and the ideas of that symbol, of that extraordinary figure (Jesus Christ)." -- Castro in 1985.
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"I reached the conclusion long ago that the one last sacrifice I must make for (Cuban) public health is to stop smoking. I haven't really missed it that much." -- Castro in December 1985 upon announcing he had stopped smoking cigars.