Fidel Castro, leader of the communist revolution in Cuba, has died at the age of 90.

Here are some of his more memorable quotes about himself and communism in Cuba:

"Condemn me. It is of no importance. History will absolve me." As a young lawyer, defending himself at trial in 1953 for his near-suicidal assault on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba

"I began the revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I would do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and a plan of action." 1959

"I'm not thinking of cutting my beard, because I'm accustomed to my beard and my beard means many things to my country. When we fulfill our promise of good government I will cut my beard." In a 1959 interview with CBS's Edward Murrow, 30 days after the revolution

"A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past." 1959

"I reached the conclusion long ago that the one last sacrifice I must make for (Cuban) public health is to stop smoking. I haven't really missed it that much." Announcing in December 1985 that he had stopped smoking cigars

"I never saw a contradiction between the ideas that sustain me and the ideas of that symbol, of that extraordinary figure (Jesus Christ)." 1985

"Just imagine what would happen in the world if the socialist community were to disappear ... if this were possible and I don't believe it is possible." 1989

"We do not know anything about this. We, gentlemen, to tell the truth, do not even know what to charge." In 1990, on the development of international tourism In Cuba

"We have to stick to the facts and, simply put, the socialist camp has collapsed." 1991

"There's nothing strange about it. I wish I had as many opportunities to welcome personalities as important as this one." In 1994, praising the reception given to Hugo Chavez upon his arrival in Havana after he was released from prison for leading a failed 1992 coup. Later, Chavez became Castro's closest ally

Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Mandatory Credit: Photo by Harry Laub/imageBROKER/REX (7454795a) Painted wall with the flag of Cuba and the words Viva Fidel, Santiago of Cuba, Santiago de Cuba Province, Cuba VARIOUS Rex Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba Rex Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Cuban president Fidel Castro looking at a rifle during a visit in North Vietnam during the Vietnam war Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Cuban President Fidel Castro in Matanzas, Cuba, on the 46th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada Barracks by Castro's rebels. The attack marked the beginning of the Cuban revolution, which eventually propelled Castro to power Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Fidel Castro with his first wife Mirta and his son Fidelito Rex Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Fidel Castro at his 'Guerrilla Man of Time' book launch in Havana, Cuba Rex Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Fidel Castro Rex Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Cuban President Fidel Castro delivers a speech attacking media organizations and groups opposed to his government in the wake of rumours of his death Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Fidel Castro playing Basketball Rex Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Watched by Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro takes a photograph of Moscow during his first visit to Russia Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Cuban president Fidel Castro attends a protest against the US embargo of Cuba Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Fidel Castro and Osvaldo Dorticos Torrado talking to Cuban medical staff who are going to Peru to help with the aftermath of an earthquake Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro relaxing at a sugar plantation near Havana, surrounded by children Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Cuban President Fidel Castro presides over a massive May Day demonstration at Havana's Plaza de la Revolucion (Revolution Square Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Cuban leader Fidel Castro is presented with an invitation to the New York Press Photographer's Ball, in New York City Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Fidel Castro, Prime Minister of the Cuban Revolutionary government and first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, and Ernesto Guevara known as Che, minister of Industry in Havana, Cuba Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Cuban President Fidel Castro waves to participants of the traditional May Day parade attended by thousands of people in Havana's Plaza of the Revolution Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro with Argentine guerrilla leader Ernesto Che Guevara Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Pope Benedict XVI meets with former Cuban President Fidel Castro at the Vatican embassy in Havana, Cuba Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro and Soviet politician Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev in Moscow Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Iraqi vice-president Saddam Hussein, stands with Cuban President Fidel Castro and Defense minister General Raul Castro in Havana, during his visit to Cuba Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former Cuban leader Fidel Castro Rex Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Cuban President Fidel Castro listens to Pope John Paul II as they walk on the tarmac of the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Fidel Castro with Chavez in Cuba Getty Images Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Fidel Castro greets Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe in Havana Getty Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Fidel Castro with Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 2000. The two friends first met in 1959 AFP/Getty Images Fidel Castro: Life in pictures Mandela salutes the crowd alongside Fidel Castro in Matanzas Getty

"These changes (the opening to international tourism, foreign investment, some small business and family remittances) have their social cost, because we lived in a glass case, pure asepsis, and now we are surrounded by viruses, bacteria to the point of distraction and the egoism created by the capitalist system of production." 1998

"One of the greatest benefits of the revolution is that even our prostitutes are college graduates." To director Oliver Stone in his 2003 documentary

"I realized that my true destiny would be the war that I was going to have with the United States." Castro's opening quote in Stone's second documentary on the leader from 2004

"Here is a conclusion I've come to after many years: among all the errors we may have committed, the greatest of them all was that we believed that someone ... actually knew how to build socialism. ... Whenever they said. 'That's the formula,' we thought they knew. Just as if someone is a physician." 2005

"I'm really happy to reach 80. I never expected it, not least having a neighbor, the greatest power in the world, trying to kill me every day." While attending a summit of Latin American presidents in Argentina in 2006

"I will neither aspire to nor accept ... the positions of President of the State Council and Commander in Chief ... It would be a betrayal of my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer." February 2008, announcing his resignation as president

"We are not a developed capitalist country in crisis, whose leaders are going crazy looking for solutions amidst depression, inflation, a lack of markets and unemployment; we are and we must be socialists." Writing in one of his newspaper columns in 2008

"The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore." In 2010 during an interview with U.S. journalist Jeffrey Goldberg. Castro later said his comment was taken out of context.