Cesar Chavez

Nonviolence is really tough. You don't practice nonviolence at conferences; you practice it on picket-lines.

— Cesar Chavez

People who have lost their hunger for justice are not ultimately powerful. They are like sick people who have lost their appetite…

— Cesar Chavez

If they had $2.00 for food, they had to give $1.00 to the union. Otherwise, they would never get out of the…

— Cesar Chavez

When any person suffers for someone in greater need, that person is a human.

— Cesar Chavez

Through Gandhi and my own life experience, I have learned about nonviolence. I believe that human life is a very special gift…

— Cesar Chavez

The non-violent technique does not depend for its success on the goodwill of the oppressor, but rather on the unfailing assistance of…

— Cesar Chavez

The basis for peace is respecting all creatures.

— Cesar Chavez

In the no-nonsense school of adversity, which we did not choose for ourselves, we are learning how to operate a labor union.

— Cesar Chavez

In the final analysis it doesn't really matter what the political system is...We don't need perfect political systems; we need perfect participation.

— Cesar Chavez

When you sacrifice, you force others to sacrifice. It's an extremely powerful weapon.

— Cesar Chavez

Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.

— Cesar Chavez

You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read.

— Cesar Chavez

Non-violence is very weak in the theoretical sense; it cannot defend itself. But it is most powerful in the action situation where…

— Cesar Chavez

The consumer boycott is the only open door in the dark corridor of nothingness down which farm workers have had to walk…

— Cesar Chavez

There is no substitute for hard work, 23 or 24 hours a day. And there is no substitute for patience and acceptance.

— Cesar Chavez

Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves - and be…

— Cesar Chavez

If you're not frightened that you might fail, you'll never do the job. If you're frightened, you'll work like crazy.

— Cesar Chavez

We don't know how God chooses martyrs. We do know that they give us the most precious gift they possess - their…

— Cesar Chavez

The strike and the boycott, they have cost us much. What they have not paid us in wages, better working conditions, and…

— Cesar Chavez

The burdens of generations of poverty and powerlessness lie heavy in the fields of America. If we fail, there are those who…

— Cesar Chavez

Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak... Non-violence is hard work. It is…

— Cesar Chavez

We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.

— Cesar Chavez

Until the chance for political participation is there, we who are poor will continue to attack the soft part of the American…

— Cesar Chavez

We are confident. We have ourselves. We know how to sacrifice. We know how to work. We know how to combat the…

— Cesar Chavez

The picket line is the best place to train organizers. One day on the picket line is where a man makes his…

— Cesar Chavez