I don't sit in the corner waiting for death: death has to pursue me. I'm going strong. I hope to reach 100 and ask for an extension, just like my grandmother did.
Compay Segundo

I am still simple, just as if I were beginning.
Compay Segundo

Because people are very interested in my poetry, in what I say.
Compay Segundo

I'm still strong and in the best shape to continue living my life.
Compay Segundo

Every time I talk about this, I say: when the singer is singing, he must be respected, you must be able to hear what he's saying. You can't put a trombone and a drum up there, and a microphone on the drum, microphones on everybody. You can't hear what he's saying.
Compay Segundo

I've done a lot of things away from my homeland.
Compay Segundo

Young people don't want to be second to anyone. Everyone wants to be an overnight star. Look how many years I had to wait, how many roads I had to travel, how many songs I had to sing. And now I'm just beginning, never ending.
Compay Segundo

Towns are suffering from all these things, we should unite until we are all satisfied, man cannot be killing each other as if we were animals, as if we had no culture; that is a lack of culture.
Compay Segundo