"A God who chastises our lack of faith, our vices, the little esteem in which we hold dignity and the civic virtues. We tolerate vice, we make ourselves its accomplices, at times we applaud it, and it is just, very just that we suffer the consequences, that our children suffer them. It is the God of liberty ... who obliges us to love it, by making the yoke heavy for us - a God of mercy, of equity, who while He chastises us betters us and only grants prosperity to him who has merited it through his efforts. The school of suffering tempers, the arena of combat strengthens the soul"
About this Quote
The subtext is political theology. “God of liberty” is a provocative phrase in a Catholic empire that often preached obedience as sanctity. Rizal flips the script: liberty is not a gift dispensed by benevolent rulers or even a mystical grace; it is a demand, enforced through consequences. Suffering becomes less a tragedy to endure than a curriculum meant to produce citizens capable of self-rule. The “yoke” is heavy because dependence should feel humiliating. If it doesn’t, you’re already colonized in the deeper sense.
He’s also bargaining with his audience’s moral imagination. By framing reform (and eventual nationhood) as something that must be “merited…through efforts”, he taps a familiar religious logic - sin, penance, redemption - and repurposes it into civic terms: responsibility, labor, virtue. It’s rhetoric with an edge: a warning against decadence, and a blueprint for turning pain into political adulthood.
Quote Details
| Topic | God |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Rizal, Jose. (2026, February 10). A God who chastises our lack of faith, our vices, the little esteem in which we hold dignity and the civic virtues. We tolerate vice, we make ourselves its accomplices, at times we applaud it, and it is just, very just that we suffer the consequences, that our children suffer them. It is the God of liberty ... who obliges us to love it, by making the yoke heavy for us - a God of mercy, of equity, who while He chastises us betters us and only grants prosperity to him who has merited it through his efforts. The school of suffering tempers, the arena of combat strengthens the soul. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-god-who-chastises-our-lack-of-faith-our-vices-185111/
Chicago Style
Rizal, Jose. "A God who chastises our lack of faith, our vices, the little esteem in which we hold dignity and the civic virtues. We tolerate vice, we make ourselves its accomplices, at times we applaud it, and it is just, very just that we suffer the consequences, that our children suffer them. It is the God of liberty ... who obliges us to love it, by making the yoke heavy for us - a God of mercy, of equity, who while He chastises us betters us and only grants prosperity to him who has merited it through his efforts. The school of suffering tempers, the arena of combat strengthens the soul." FixQuotes. February 10, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-god-who-chastises-our-lack-of-faith-our-vices-185111/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"A God who chastises our lack of faith, our vices, the little esteem in which we hold dignity and the civic virtues. We tolerate vice, we make ourselves its accomplices, at times we applaud it, and it is just, very just that we suffer the consequences, that our children suffer them. It is the God of liberty ... who obliges us to love it, by making the yoke heavy for us - a God of mercy, of equity, who while He chastises us betters us and only grants prosperity to him who has merited it through his efforts. The school of suffering tempers, the arena of combat strengthens the soul." FixQuotes, 10 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-god-who-chastises-our-lack-of-faith-our-vices-185111/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
