Straight from today’s Quotle — here’s who really said it, and the story behind it. Play again

Who really said it

Words that do not match deeds are unimportant

Attributed to Che Guevara 1928–1967 · Argentine Marxist revolutionary
Attributed Rights unconfirmed

Widely credited to Guevara, and in keeping with his insistence that ideals must become action. But no speech, letter or book of his has been found with this wording, and no Spanish original has turned up. The trail goes no further back than an unsourced 2007 quote list and a 2009 compilation.

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

For presentations

Put it on a slide

Unconfirmed quote & credit

“Words that do not match deeds are unimportant” attributed to Che Guevara (no primary source located; in circulation by 2007)

Can you use it?

We couldn’t establish where this was first published, so there’s no rights status to give. Credit it as shown above — just don’t present it as public domain, and get permission for commercial or published reuse.

Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool

In context

Evoking the world of Che Guevara — Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician & guerrilla leader. Theme: "Words that do not match deeds are unimportant". 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.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Words that do not match deeds are unimportant". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

Where the line actually turns up

Primary work
None located: no Guevara speech, letter, diary or book found
Spanish original
None found
Earliest copy found
Unsourced list of “quotations from Che”, OPE-L mailing list, 7 October 2007
Cited by Wikiquote
Seeds of Revolution: A Collection of Axioms, Passages and Proverbs, Vol. 1 (2009), by Iam A. Freeman (“as quoted in”)

Words that do not match deeds are unimportant.

There is no fuller original context to show. The line circulates on its own, in English, in quote lists. No surrounding passage from a Guevara text has been identified.

Wikiquote: Che Guevara (Quotes section and its citation)

How we verified this

  • Quote Investigator has no article on this line, and none on Guevara at all, so there is no specialist ruling to defer to.
  • Wikiquote puts the line in Guevara’s general Quotes list, citing only “As quoted in Seeds of Revolution: A Collection of Axioms, Passages and Proverbs, Volume 1 (2009) by Iam A. Freeman”. That is a secondary compilation, and the citation names no Guevara work. Wikiquote ↗
  • October 2007: the line already appears, with no source, in a list of “quotations from Che” forwarded to the OPE-L economics mailing list under the subject “October 9 marks 40 years since the murder of Che”. The same list includes the legendary “Shoot, coward” last words. OPE-L archive ↗
  • Guevara’s own texts: the line was not found in the English texts listed in the Marxists Internet Archive’s Che Guevara library. Spanish Wikiquote’s Che Guevara page has no Spanish version of it either. MIA Che Guevara library ↗

No Guevara work containing this wording has been identified. With no known original text or translation, the line has no publication date to judge it by, so quotle.info makes no copyright claim either way.

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

How an unsourced line became “Che”

Guevara is one of the internet’s biggest magnets for quotes with no source. This line follows the usual pattern. Every place it appears repeats the name, and none of them points to a speech, letter or book.

Aggregators such as QuotePark No source

They credit the line to “Ernesto Che Guevara” and copy Wikiquote’s 2009 compilation citation. QuotePark’s page even asks readers to “help us to complete the source”. QuotePark ↗

Forwarded email lists of “quotations from Che” Unsourced

The line was passed around in an October 2007 anniversary list that gave no source for any entry. That list also carried the legendary “Shoot, coward” last words. OPE-L archive ↗

Seeds of Revolution (2009), as cited by Wikiquote Secondary

This is the only printed source Wikiquote cites, and it is a book of axioms and proverbs, not a Guevara text. Wikiquote ↗

No primary source has been found. The wording cannot be traced to any Guevara speech, letter or book, or to a Spanish original. It may be a loose English summary of his views, but no one has shown which text it comes from. See Wikiquote’s citation ↗

Context

Why it sounds like Che

The line fits the image of Guevara as a man who made people judge revolutionaries by what they did. His essay Man and Socialism in Cuba (1965) does say something nearby. In the English text on the Marxists Internet Archive he urges that “this love of living humanity is transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples.” Man and Socialism in Cuba ↗

That sentence is about a similar idea, but it is not the quote, and it does not show that Guevara ever put it the way the popular line does. The neat, slogan-sized wording is exactly the kind of line that gets attached to a famous name without a source.

What this check could not search

Full-text book searches (Google Books, the Internet Archive and Open Library) were unavailable when this check was run. A printed copy from before 2007 could still exist. If one turns up, it would move the trail back, but it would not by itself tie the wording to a Guevara text.

The search of Guevara’s writings covered the English texts in the Marxists Internet Archive library, many of them partial transcriptions, plus Spanish Wikiquote. It was not a search of his complete works in Spanish.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Character Truth

Go further

Dig deeper

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

Lists the line with its only citation, a 2009 compilation (“as quoted in”)
OPE-L archive: “quotations from Che” (Oct 2007)users.wfu.edu

The earliest dated copy this check found: an unsourced list of anniversary quotations
Marxists Internet Archive: Che Guevara librarymarxists.org

English texts of Guevara’s books, speeches and letters
Man and Socialism in Cuba (1965)marxists.org

Guevara’s essay on turning love of humanity into “actual deeds”: a similar idea, not the quote
Wikiquote (Spanish): Che Guevaraes.wikiquote.org

Spanish-language collection; has no Spanish version of this line

The author

About Che Guevara

Che Guevara

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

Ernesto “Che” Guevara (14 June 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author and guerrilla leader in the Cuban Revolution. His speeches, essays and letters, including Man and Socialism in Cuba (1965), are well documented. His fame also makes him one of the names most often attached to quotes with no source.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Best available

Attributed to Che Guevara; no primary source located. Earliest copy found: “quotations from Che,” forwarded to the OPE-L mailing list, 7 October 2007, https://users.wfu.edu/cottrell/OPE/archive/0710/0036.html. Cited by Wikiquote as quoted in Iam A. Freeman, Seeds of Revolution: A Collection of Axioms, Passages and Proverbs, vol. 1 (2009).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Words that do not match deeds are unimportant’?” Last verified 2 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/words-that-do-not-match-deeds-are-unimportant/

Something wrong on this page?

Tell us what’s off. A link helps but isn’t required — “this is the wrong person” is a useful report on its own. Nothing here changes the page directly; it goes to our review queue and a human checks it.

Only used to tell you if we act on your report. We never sell or share it.

Copied