In this world it is possible to achieve great material wealth, to live an opulent life. But a life built upon those things alone leaves a shallow legacy. In the end, we will be judged by other standards.
CESAR CHAVEZOur very lives are dependent, for sustenance, on the sweat and sacrifice of the campesinos. Children of farm workers should be as proud of their parents’ professions as other children are of theirs.
More Cesar Chavez Quotes
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It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an awesome opportunity.
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Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well with others.
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Non-violence has suffered its biggest defeat in the hands of people who most want to talk about it.
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Every time we sit at a table at night or in the morning to enjoy the fruits and grain and vegetables from our good earth, remember that they come from the work of men and women and children who have been exploited for generations.
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There’s no reason to be non-violent. There’s no challenge unless you are living for people.
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When we are really honest with ourselves we must admit our lives are all that really belong to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines the kind of men we are.
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You are never strong enough that you don’t need help.
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I’m not going to ask for anything unless the workers want it. If they want it, they’ll ask for it.
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The love for justice that is in us is not only the best part of our being but it is also the most true to our nature.
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Our struggle is not easy. Those who oppose our cause are rich and powerful and they have many allies in high places. We are poor. Our allies are few. But we have something the rich do not own. We have our bodies and spirits and the justice of our cause as our weapons.
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Our very lives are dependent, for sustenance, on the sweat and sacrifice of the campesinos. Children of farm workers should be as proud of their parents’ professions as other children are of theirs.
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When the man who feeds the world by toiling in the fields is himself deprived of the basic rights of feeding, sheltering, and caring for his own family, the whole community of man is sick.
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The first principle of non-violent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating.
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In the no-nonsense school of adversity, which we did not choose for ourselves, we are learning how to operate a labor union.
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I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness, is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally nonviolent struggle for justice. To be a man is to suffer for others. God help us to be men!
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I am an organizer, not a union leader. A good organizer has to work hard and long. There are no shortcuts. You just keep talking to people, working with them, sharing, exchanging and they come along.
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Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other.
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When a man or woman, young, or old, takes a place on the picket line for even a day or two, he will never be the same again.
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Our language is the reflection of ourselves.
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Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own students. What better books can there be than the book of humanity?
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Do not romanticize the poor. We are all people, human beings subject to the same temptations and faults as all others. Our poverty damages our dignity.
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If we are full of hatred, we can’t really do our work. Hatred saps all that strength and energy we need to plan.
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You know, if people are not pacifists, it’s not their fault. It’s because society puts them in that spot. You’ve got to change it. You don’t just change a man – you’ve got to change his environment as you do it.
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The only ones who make things change are fanatics. If you’re not a fanatic around here, you can’t cut it.
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Talk is cheap. It is the way we organize and use our lives everyday that tells what we believe in.
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We believe that unions have always been about much more than the industries in which they operate. The fight is never about grapes or lettuce, It is always about people.
CESAR CHAVEZ