“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.”

We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community – and this nation.

If we are full of hatred, we can’t really do our work. Hatred saps all that strength and energy we need to plan.

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.

In some cases non-violence requires more militancy than violence.

I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry and unhappy like we do. I feel very deeply about vegetarianism and the animal kingdom.

Being of service is not enough. You must become a servant of the people. When you do, you can demand their commitment in return.

Organizing is an educational process. The best educational process in the union is the picket line and the boycott. You learn about life.

To make a great dream come true, the first requirement is a great capacity to dream; the second is persistence.

Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed.

We’ll organize workers in this movement as long as we’re willing to sacrifice. The moment we stop sacrificing, we stop organizing.

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

The end of all knowledge must be the building up of character.

You are never strong enough that you don’t need help.

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

Our language is the reflection of ourselves.

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

Our greatest national resource is the minds of our children.

My children give me a great sense of wonder. Just to see them develop into these extraordinary human beings.

If your plan is for one year plant rice. If your plan is for ten years plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years educate children.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.

The happiness and the joy that I see in the eyes of the children. They saved my life so I want to, give it back. I’m not joking.

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.

Most people don’t grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging.

To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me.