Rizal wrote mostly in Spanish, the lingua franca of the Spanish East Indies, though some of his letters (for example Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga Malolos) were written in Tagalog. His works have since been translated into a number of languages including Tagalog and English.

• "El amor patrio", 1882 essay
• "Toast to Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo", 1884 speech given at Restaurante Ingles, Madrid
• Noli Me Tángere, 1887 novel (literally Latin for 'touch me not', from John 20:17)
• Alin Mang Lahi ("Whate'er the Race"), a Kundiman attributed to Dr. José Rizal
• "Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga-Malolos" (To the Young Women of Malolos), 1889 letter
• Annotations to Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, 1889
• "Filipinas dentro de cien años" (The Philippines a Century Hence), 1889–90 essay
• "Sobre la indolencia de los filipinos" (The Indolence of Filipinos), 1890 essay
• "Como se gobiernan las Filipinas" (Governing the Philippine islands), 1890 essay
• El filibusterismo, 1891 novel; sequel to Noli Me Tángere
• Una visita del Señor a Filipinas, also known as Friars and Filipinos, 14-page unfinished novel written in 1889
• Memorias de un Gallo, two-page unfinished satire
• Makamisa, unfinished Tagalog-language novel written in 1892

• "Felicitación" (1874/75)
• "El embarque"[72] (The Embarkation, 1875)
• "Por la educación recibe lustre la patria" (1876)
• "Un recuerdo á mi pueblo" (1876)
• "Al niño Jesús" (c. 1876)
• "A la juventud filipina" (To the Philippine Youth, 1879)
• "¡Me piden versos!" (1882)
• "Canto de María Clara" (from Noli Me Tángere, 1887)
• "Himno al trabajo" (Dalit sa Paggawa, 1888)[73]
• "Kundiman" (disputed, 1889) - also attributed to Pedro Paterno
• "A mi musa" (To My Muse, 1890)
• "El canto del viajero" (1892–96)
• "Mi retiro" (1895)
• "Mi último adiós" (1896)
• "Mi primera inspiracion" (disputed) - also attributed to Antonio Lopez, Rizal's nephew

• El Consejo de los Dioses (The Council of Gods)
• Junto al Pasig (Along the Pasig)[75]: 381 
• San Euistaquio, Mártyr (Saint Eustache, the Martyr)

José Rizal was born on June 19, 1861 to Francisco Rizal Mercado y Alejandro and Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos in the town of Calamba in Laguna province. He had nine sisters and one brother. His parents were leaseholders of a hacienda and an accompanying rice farm held by the Dominicans. Both their families had adopted the additional surnames of Rizal and Realonda in 1849, after Governor General Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa decreed the adoption of Spanish surnames among the Filipinos for census purposes (though they already had Spanish names). Like many families in the Philippines, the Rizals were of mestizo origin. José's patrilineal lineage could be traced to Fujian in China through his father's ancestor Lam-Co, a Hokkien Chinese merchant who immigrated to the Philippines in the late 17th century. Lam-Co traveled to Manila from Xiamen, China, possibly to avoid the famine or plague in his home district, and more probably to escape the Manchu invasion during the Transition from Ming to Qing. He decided to stay in the islands as a farmer. In 1697, to escape the bitter anti-Chinese prejudice that existed in the Philippines, he converted to Catholicism, changed his name to Domingo Mercado and married the daughter of Chinese friend Augustin Chin-co. On his mother's side, Rizal's ancestry included Chinese, Japanese, and Tagalog. His mother's lineage can be traced to the affluent Florentina family of Chinese mestizo families originating in Baliuag, Bulacan. He also had Spanish ancestry. Regina Ochoa, a grandmother of his mother, Teodora, had mixed Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog blood. His maternal grandfather was a half Spanish engineer named Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo. From an early age, José showed a precocious intellect. He learned the alphabet from his mother at 3, and could read and write at age 5. Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, he dropped the last three names that made up his full name, on the advice of his brother, Paciano and the Mercado family, thus rendering his name as "José Protasio Rizal". Of this, he later wrote: "My family never paid much attention [to our second surname Rizal], but now I had to use it, thus giving me the appearance of an illegitimate child! This was to enable him to travel freely and disassociate him from his brother, who had gained notoriety with earlier links to Filipino priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora (popularly known as Gomburza), who had been accused and executed for treason. José, as "Rizal", soon distinguished himself in poetry writing contests, impressing his professors with his facility with Castilian and other foreign languages, and later, in writing essays that were critical of the Spanish historical accounts of the pre-colonial Philippine societies. By 1891, the year he finished his second novel El filibusterismo, his second surname had become so well known that, as he writes to another friend, "All my family now carry the name Rizal instead of Mercado because the name Rizal means persecution! Good! I too want to join them and be worthy of this family name.

Jose Rizal’s first teacher was his mother, who had taught him how to read and pray and who had encouraged him to write poetry. Later, private tutors taught the young Rizal Spanish and Latin, before he was sent to a private school in Biñan. When he was 11 years old, Rizal entered the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. He earned excellent marks in subjects like philosophy, physics, chemistry, and natural history. At this school, he read novels; wrote prize-winning poetry (and even a melodrama—“Junto al Pasig”); and practiced drawing, painting, and clay modeling, all of which remained lifelong interests for him. Rizal eventually earned a land surveyor’s and assessor’s degree from the Ateneo Municipal while taking up Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas. Upon learning that his mother was going blind, Rizal opted to study ophthalmology at the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery. He, however, was not able to complete the course because “he became politically isolated by adversaries among the faculty and clergy who demanded that he assimilate to their system.” Without the knowledge of his parents, Rizal traveled to Europe in May 1882. According to his biographer, Austin Craig, Rizal, “in order to obtain a better education, had had to leave his country stealthily like a fugitive from justice, and his family, to save themselves from persecution, were compelled to profess ignorance of his plans and movements. His name was entered in Santo Tomas at the opening of the new term, with the fees paid, and Paciano had gone to Manila pretending to be looking for this brother whom he had assisted out of the country.” Rizal earned a Licentiate in Medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid, where he also took courses in philosophy and literature. It was in Madrid that he conceived of writing Noli Me Tangere. He also attended the University of Paris and, in 1887, completed his eye specialization course at the University of Heidelberg. It was also in that year that Rizal’s first novel was published (in Berlin). Rizal is said to have had the ability to master various skills, subjects, and languages. Our national hero was also a doctor, farmer, naturalist (he discovered the Draco rizali, a small lizard; Apogania rizali, a beetle; and the Rhacophorus rizali, a frog), writer, visual artist, athlete (martial arts, fencing, and pistol shooting), musician, and social scientist.

There were at least nine women linked with Rizal; namely Segunda Katigbak, Leonor Valenzuela, Leonor Rivera, Consuelo Ortiga, O-Sei San, Gertrude Beckette, Nelly Boustead, Suzanne Jacoby and Josephine Bracken. These women might have been beguiled by his intelligence, charm and wit.

While in Europe, José Rizal became part of the Propaganda Movement, connecting with other Filipinos who wanted reform. He also wrote his first novel, Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not/The Social Cancer), a work that detailed the dark aspects of Spain's colonial rule in the Philippines, with particular focus on the role of Catholic friars. The book was banned in the Philippines, though copies were smuggled in. Because of this novel, Rizal's return to the Philippines in 1887 was cut short when he was targeted by police. Rizal returned to Europe and continued to write, releasing his follow-up novel, El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed) in 1891. He also published articles in La Solidaridad, a paper aligned with the Propaganda Movement. The reforms Rizal advocated for did not include independence—he called for equal treatment of Filipinos, limiting the power of Spanish friars and representation for the Philippines in the Spanish Cortes (Spain's parliament).

In 1895, Rizal asked for permission to travel to Cuba as an army doctor. His request was approved, but in August 1896, Katipunan, a nationalist Filipino society founded by Andres Bonifacio, revolted. Though he had no ties to the group and disapproved of its violent methods, Rizal was arrested shortly thereafter. After a show trial, Rizal was convicted of sedition and sentenced to death by firing squad. Rizal's public execution was carried out in Manila on December 30, 1896, when he was 35 years old. His execution created more opposition to Spanish rule. Spain's control of the Philippines ended in 1898, though the country did not gain lasting independence until after World War II. Rizal remains a nationalist icon in the Philippines for helping the country take its first steps toward independence.