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Who really said it

If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine

Attributed to Che Guevara 1928–1967 · Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary
Real letter, paraphrased wording In copyright

The thought is Guevara’s. Wikiquote cites a letter to María Rosario Guevara dated 20 February 1964: “if you are capable of trembling with indignation each time that an injustice is committed anywhere in the world, we are comrades.” The snappier “comrade of mine” version is a condensed paraphrase. No primary text or published translation found has that exact wording.

Last verified 2 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Unconfirmed quote & credit

“If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine” paraphrased from Che Guevara, letter to María Rosario Guevara, 20 February 1964 (via Quotle.info)

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Estate of Ernesto Che Guevara (Aleida March / Che Guevara Studies Center); English translations: their translators and publishers (e.g. Ocean Press)). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Che Guevara — Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician & guerrilla leader. Theme: "If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The letter behind the line

Work
Letter to María Rosario Guevara
Date
20 February 1964 (as cited by Wikiquote)
Original language
Spanish
Translation
English as quoted in K. S. Karol, Guerrillas in Power (per Wikiquote)

I don’t think you and I are very closely related, however, if you are capable of trembling with indignation each time that an injustice is committed anywhere in the world, we are comrades, and that is more important. Letter, 1964

English wording as given by Wikiquote. The Spanish, as quoted by Armando Hart Dávalos: “No creo que seamos parientes muy cercanos, pero si usted es capaz de temblar de indignación cada vez que se comete una injusticia en el mundo, somos compañeros, que es más importante.” The popular one-liner drops the conditional, the world-wide scope and the closing “that is more important.”

Wikiquote: Che Guevara (letter to María Rosario Guevara)

How we traced it

  • Wikiquote ↗ lists the fuller sentence in its main Quotes section, not under Disputed. It cites a letter to María Rosario Guevara, 20 February 1964, as quoted in K. S. Karol’s Guerrillas in Power: The Course of the Cuban Revolution.
  • Cuban writer Armando Hart Dávalos quotes the Spanish text in “Ernesto Che Guevara: hombre de actos y de pensamiento” ↗. He describes it as Guevara’s reply to an admirer who had written from Morocco to say she might be a relative.
  • Ocean Press’s The Che Reader lists a letter “To María Rosario Guevara” in its contents, as shown on the Marxists Internet Archive index ↗. The full text is not posted online.
  • The short “comrade” form was already circulating without a source in a forwarded list of “quotations from Che” posted to the OPE-L mailing list on 7 October 2007 ↗.
In copyright

The line comes from a private letter written in 1964 and published well after 1931, so the letter and its English translations are not public domain in the US. Ocean Press’s edition carries a © 2005 Aleida March, Che Guevara Studies Center and Ocean Press ↗ notice. The popular one-liner itself is an anonymous paraphrase.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Real letter, reworded line

Most viral “Che quotes” have no source at all. This one has a real source, but the version people share has been cut down and reworded.

“If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine” Paraphrase

This is a condensed paraphrase. The letter, as Wikiquote quotes it ↗, says “if you are capable of trembling with indignation each time that an injustice is committed anywhere in the world, we are comrades, and that is more important.” The short form was circulating without a citation by October 2007 ↗.

Read as a slogan or speech line Lost context

It was not a speech or a manifesto. It was a personal reply to a stranger who wondered whether she was related to him. Guevara said he doubted it, but that sharing indignation at injustice made them compañeros, which mattered more. Source: Armando Hart’s account ↗.

Che Guevara did write this thought, in a letter to María Rosario Guevara that Wikiquote ↗ dates to 20 February 1964. The exact “comrade of mine” wording is a later paraphrase.

Context

Comrades, not cousins

The famous line began as a joke about family trees. According to Armando Hart ↗, a woman who shared his surname wrote from Morocco to ask whether they might be related. Guevara replied that he did not really know which part of Spain his family came from, and that he doubted they were close relatives.

Then he turned the question around. Kinship of blood mattered less to him than kinship of conscience. Anyone able to tremble with indignation at an injustice anywhere in the world was his compañero, “que es más importante” (“which is more important”).

Somos compañeros, que es más importante.

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Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Wikiquote: Che Guevaraen.wikiquote.org

Sourced entry: letter to María Rosario Guevara, 20 February 1964, as quoted by K. S. Karol
Armando Hart, “Ernesto Che Guevara: hombre de actos y de pensamiento”archivochile.cl

Quotes the Spanish text of the reply and explains the kinship question behind it
The Che Reader: contentsmarxists.org

Ocean Press anthology index listing the letter “To María Rosario Guevara”
Che Guevara Presente: índicemarxists.org

Spanish Ocean Press anthology listing “A María Rosario Guevara” among Che’s letters
K. S. Karol, Guerrillas in Powerarchive.org

Catalog record for the book Wikiquote cites for the English translation (lending copy)
OPE-L: “quotations from Che”users.wfu.edu

2007 mailing-list post showing the short, unsourced form already circulating

The author

About Che Guevara

Che Guevara

1928–1967 · Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician & guerrilla leader

Ernesto “Che” Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author and guerrilla leader in the Cuban Revolution. After his execution in Bolivia in October 1967 he became a worldwide countercultural icon. That status has made him a magnet for unsourced and invented quotations, though this one goes back to a real letter.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Letter, 1964

Ernesto Che Guevara, letter to María Rosario Guevara, 20 February 1964; English translation as quoted in K. S. Karol, Guerrillas in Power: The Course of the Cuban Revolution (cited by Wikiquote). Popular wording is a condensed paraphrase.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine’?” Last verified 2 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/if-you-tremble-with-indignation-at-every-injustice-then-you/

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