I’ve always maintained that it isn’t the form that’s going to make the difference. It isn’t the rule or the procedure or the ideology, but it’s human beings that will make it.
CESAR CHAVEZIt takes a lot of punishment to be able to do anything to change the social order.
More Cesar Chavez Quotes
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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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Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed.
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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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We do not need to kill or destroy to win. We are a movement that builds and not destroys.
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In 1968, I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry, and unhappy like we do.
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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.
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When you sacrifice, you force others to sacrifice. It’s an extremely powerful weapon.
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Nonviolence is really tough. You don’t practice nonviolence at conferences; you practice it on picket-lines.
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The first principle of non-violent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating.
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We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.
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If you give yourself totally to the nonviolence struggle for peace and justice you also find that people give you their hearts and you will never go hungry and never be alone.
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Violence just hurts those who are already hurt. Instead of exposing the brutality of the oppressor, it justifies it.
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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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It’s amazing how people can get so excited about a rocket to the moon and not give a damn about smog, oil leaks, the devastation of the environment with pesticides, hunger, disease.
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A symbol is an important thing. That is why we chose an Aztec eagle. It gives pride. When people see it they know it means dignity.
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Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves – and be free.
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There are many reasons for why a man does what he does. To be himself he must be able to give it all. If a leader cannot give it all he cannot expect his people to give anything.
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Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak. Non-violence is hard work.
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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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There’s no turning back. We will win. We are winning because ours is a revolution of mind and heart.
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Self dedication is a spiritual experience.
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It’s ironic that those who till the soil, cultivate and harvest the fruits, vegetables, and other foods that fill your tables with abundance have nothing left for themselves.
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We’ll organize workers in this movement as long as we’re willing to sacrifice. The moment we stop sacrificing, we stop organizing.
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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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History will judge societies and governments – and their institutions – not by how big they are or how well they serve the rich and the powerful, but by how effectively they respond to the needs of the poor and the helpless.
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The non-violent technique does not depend for its success on the goodwill of the oppressor, but rather on the unfailing assistance of God.
CESAR CHAVEZ