# Zamenhof quotes: famous words of the creator of Esperanto

Source: https://esperantopedia.org/about/zamenhof-quotes/
Language: en
Updated: 2026-10-08

> 16 checked quotes by L. L. Zamenhof in Esperanto with English translations, from his 1905–1912 congress speeches, the 1913 homaranismo text and letters.

**L. L. Zamenhof's best-known words come from his opening speeches at the first eight World Esperanto Congresses (1905–1912), his 1913 Declaration of Homaranismo and his letters.** Below are 16 of them in Esperanto, with our own English translation and a link to the source. Each was compared word for word with Zamenhof's texts, which are in the public domain (he died in 1917); […] marks a cut. The *Unua Libro* of 1887 was in Russian, so its foreword is quoted in his own later Esperanto version; where the Esperanto wording is not his, we say so. For his life see [Zamenhof](https://esperantopedia.org/about/zamenhof/).

## The language and its purpose

> *La diferenco de la lingvoj prezentas la esencon de la diferenco kaj reciproka malamikeco de la nacioj […]*

– "The difference between languages is the essence of the difference and mutual hostility between nations […]" Foreword of the [Unua Libro](https://esperantopedia.org/about/unua-libro/), 1887 ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/I/1)).

> *Por ke lingvo estu tutmonda, ne sufiĉas nomi ĝin tia.*

– "For a language to be worldwide, it is not enough to call it so." The motto on the title page of the first *Unua Libro*, Warsaw, 1887. The book was in Russian ([original](https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B5%D0%B6%D0%B4%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA_%28%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%84%29/%D0%A2%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82)); the Esperanto wording is Adam Zakrzewski's, *Universo*, 1910 ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Universo_1910-06/Historiaj_detaloj)). Some collections print *internacia* instead of *tutmonda*.

> *[…] estas plej necesa antaŭ ĉio unu kondiĉo: la ekzistado de klare difinita, neniam tuŝebla kaj neniam ŝanĝebla Fundamento de la lingvo.*

– "[…] one condition is the most necessary of all: the existence of a clearly defined Fundamento of the language that can never be touched and never be changed." Preface to the *Fundamento de Esperanto*, July 1905 ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/I/7)).

## Neutrality and the equality of peoples

> *[…] hodiaŭ inter la gastamaj muroj de Bulonjo-sur-Maro kunvenis ne francoj kun angloj, ne rusoj kun poloj, sed homoj kun homoj.*

– "[…] today, within the hospitable walls of Boulogne-sur-Mer, there have gathered not French with English, not Russians with Poles, but people with people." Opening speech, first World Congress, August 1905 ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/2)). Echoed in the title of Ziko van Dijk's congress history *Sed homoj kun homoj* (UEA, 2005). See [World Esperanto Congress](https://esperantopedia.org/about/world-congress/).

> *Rompu, rompu la murojn inter la popoloj, donu al ili la eblon libere konatiĝi kaj komunikiĝi sur neŭtrala fundamento […]*

– "Break, break the walls between the peoples, give them the chance to get to know each other and to communicate freely on a neutral foundation […]" Geneva, 1906, after he describes the massacre in his native Białystok ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/5)).

> *Sur neŭtrala lingva fundamento, / Komprenante unu la alian, / La popoloj faros en konsento / Unu grandan rondon familian.*

– "On a neutral language foundation, / understanding one another, / the peoples will make, in agreement, / one great family circle." Third stanza of the poem *La Espero*, 1890 ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/VI/1)); Zamenhof quoted it himself in his Cambridge speech of 1907. The poem is the unofficial anthem, see [flag and symbols](https://esperantopedia.org/about/flag-symbols/).

> *La interna ideo de Esperanto […] estas: sur neŭtrala lingva fundamento forigi la murojn inter la gentoj kaj alkutimigadi la homojn, ke ĉiu el ili vidu en sia proksimulo nur homon kaj fraton.*

– "The inner idea of Esperanto […] is: on a neutral language foundation to remove the walls between the peoples and to accustom people to see in their neighbour only a person and a brother." Kraków, 1912 ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/15)).

> *[…] forigi unu fojon por ĉiam la ĉefan kaŭzon de la militoj, la barbaran restaĵon el la plej antikva antaŭcivilizacia tempo, la regadon de unuj gentoj super aliaj gentoj.*

– "[…] to remove once and for all the main cause of wars, that barbaric relic of the most ancient pre-civilised age: the rule of some peoples over other peoples." End of *Post la Granda Milito. Alvoko al la diplomatoj*, written in 1915, during the First World War ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/III/13)).

## Homaranismo

Zamenhof published his *Deklaracio pri Homaranismo* in 1913 as "my purely private belief", apart from Esperanto. It opens *Mi estas homarano* – "I am a *homarano*". More in [Homaranismo](https://esperantopedia.org/about/homaranismo/).

> *Mi estas homo, kaj la tutan homaron mi rigardas kiel unu familion.*

– "I am a human being, and I regard the whole of humanity as one family." Point I ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/III/9)).

> *Mi vidas en ĉiu homo nur homon, kaj mi taksas ĉiun homon nur laŭ lia persona valoro kaj agoj.*

– "In every person I see only a person, and I judge everyone only by personal worth and deeds." Point II (same text).

## About himself and his role

> *Lingvo Internacia kiel ĉiu nacia estas komuna propraĵo; la aŭtoro forlasas por ĉiam ĉiujn personajn rajtojn al ĝi.*

– "The International Language, like every national one, is common property; the author gives up all personal rights to it for ever." Note on page 2 of the *Unua Libro* (1887), in Russian ([original](https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B5%D0%B6%D0%B4%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA_%28%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%84%29/%D0%A2%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82)); the Esperanto wording is Johannes Dietterle's ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/I/1)).

> *Mi ne volas esti kreinto de l’ lingvo, mi volas nur esti iniciatoro.*

– "I do not want to be the creator of the language, I want only to be its initiator." Preface to the *Dua Libro*, 1888 ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/I/2)).

> *Memoru, ke Esperanto estas nenies propraĵo, ke la esperantistoj havas plenan rajton fari kun ĝi ĉion, kion ili volas, se ili nur faros ĝin singarde, lojale kaj interkonsente.*

– "Remember that Esperanto is nobody's property, that Esperantists have the full right to do with it whatever they want, provided they do so carefully, loyally and by agreement." Dresden, August 1908 ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/8)).

> *Nomu min per mia nomo, nomu min fondinto de la lingvo, aŭ kiel vi volas, sed mi petas vin, ne nomu min plu „majstro“ […]*

– "Call me by my name, call me the founder of the language, or as you like, but I ask you not to call me 'master' any more […]" Kraków, August 1912, the 25th anniversary ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/15)).

## The eight congress speeches, 1905–1912

Zamenhof opened each of the first eight congresses. Part IV of the *Originala Verkaro* holds all eight and nine other talks.

| Year | Place | Main theme | Text |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1905 | Boulogne-sur-Mer | Neutral ground; ends with a prayer | [IV/2](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/2) |
| 1906 | Geneva | Esperanto's "inner idea" | [IV/5](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/5) |
| 1907 | Cambridge | Purpose of the congresses | [IV/6](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/6) |
| 1908 | Dresden | Stability, after the Ido split | [IV/8](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/8) |
| 1909 | Barcelona | Short; his role as a symbol | [IV/9](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/9) |
| 1910 | Washington | Why Esperanto would be chosen | [IV/11](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/11) |
| 1911 | Antwerp | Schleyer; voting at congresses | [IV/14](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/14) |
| 1912 | Kraków | Jubilee; he gives up "master" | [IV/15](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/15) |

## Letters

> *Oni edukadis min kiel idealiston; oni min instruis, ke ĉiuj homoj estas fratoj, kaj dume sur la strato kaj sur la korto, ĉio ĉe ĉiu paŝo igis min senti, ke homoj ne ekzistas: ekzistas sole rusoj, poloj, germanoj, hebreoj k.t.p.*

– "I was brought up as an idealist; I was taught that all people are brothers, while in the street and in the courtyard everything at every step made me feel that people did not exist: there were only Russians, Poles, Germans, Jews, and so on." Letter to N. Borovko, 1890s, printed 1896; the Esperanto is V. Gernet's translation from Russian ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/V/3)).

> *Se mi ne estus hebreo el la ghetto, la ideo pri la unuigo de la homaro aŭ tute ne venus al mi en la kapon, aŭ ĝi neniam tenus min tiel obstine en la daŭro de mia tuta vivo.*

– "If I were not a Jew from the ghetto, the idea of the unification of humanity would either not have entered my head at all, or it would never have held me so stubbornly throughout my whole life." Private letter to Alfred Michaux, 21 February 1905 ([text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Zamenhof_pri_sia_vivo_-_Letero_de_Zamenhof_al_Michaux_%2821-an_de_Februaro_de_1905%29)). In a postscript he asks Michaux to say that he calls himself *Ruslanda hebreo*, "a Russian Jew".

## Often attributed, but not found in his texts

Vikicitaro lists these under Zamenhof's name without naming a source text. We searched the 1929 *Originala Verkaro* (including 140 letters), the *Fundamenta Krestomatio*, the *Dua Libro* and the full text of Vikifontaro, and found neither wording:

- *Kiam la popoloj povos interkompreniĝi, ili ĉesos malami unu la alian.* – "When peoples can understand each other, they will stop hating each other." Zamenhof himself rejected this simple view (see below).
- *Mi forĝis, kiel forĝisto aŭ seruristo, la ŝlosilon de l’mondo.* – "I forged, like a smith or locksmith, the key of the world." The nearest text is the Borovko letter, where he designs the language as a "key" (*ŝlosilo*) that lets a reader who never learned it understand a letter.

## Common questions

### What is Zamenhof's most famous quote?

Probably the line from Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1905: not French with English, not Russians with Poles, "but people with people" (*sed homoj kun homoj*).

### What did Zamenhof mean by the "inner idea" of Esperanto?

In his last official congress speech (Kraków, 1912) he defined it as removing the walls between peoples on a neutral language foundation, so that everyone sees in a neighbour only a person and a brother. He said it binds no individual Esperantist.

### Did Zamenhof think a common language would end hatred?

No. In Geneva in 1906 he said: "we do not believe that a neutral foundation will turn people into angels" (*ni ne kredas, ke neŭtrala fundamento faros el la homoj anĝelojn*, [text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/IV/5)). In 1915 he wrote that it is easy to make brothers of free and equal people, but impossible when some of them regard themselves as rightful masters over the others (*Post la Granda Milito*, [text](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro/III/13)).

## Sources

- L. L. Zamenhof, [*Originala Verkaro*](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Originala_Verkaro), ed. Johannes Dietterle, 1929, on Vikifontaro: prefaces (part I), articles and homaranismo texts (III), speeches (IV), letters (V), poems (VI)
- [*Fundamenta Krestomatio*](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8224) and [*Dua Libro de l' Lingvo Internacia*](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20006), Project Gutenberg
- Adam Zakrzewski, [*Historiaj detaloj*](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Universo_1910-06/Historiaj_detaloj), *Universo* 1910 (title-page motto); Д-ръ Эсперанто, *Международный языкъ*, 1887, [title page and page 2](https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B5%D0%B6%D0%B4%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA_%28%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%84%29/%D0%A2%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82), Russian Wikisource
- Zamenhof, [letter to Alfred Michaux, 21 February 1905](https://eo.wikisource.org/wiki/Zamenhof_pri_sia_vivo_-_Letero_de_Zamenhof_al_Michaux_%2821-an_de_Februaro_de_1905%29), Vikifontaro, from A. Korĵenkov, *Homarano*, 2011
- A. Korĵenkov, [*Zamenhof: The Life, Works and Ideas of the Author of Esperanto*](http://www.esperantic.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/LLZ-Bio-En.pdf), Esperantic Studies Foundation, 2009 (themes of the speeches)
- Vikipedio, [Universala Kongreso de Esperanto](https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universala_Kongreso_de_Esperanto) (Ziko van Dijk, *Sed homoj kun homoj*, UEA 2005); Vikicitaro, [Ludoviko Lazaro Zamenhof](https://eo.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ludoviko_Lazaro_Zamenhof)