You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.
CESAR CHAVEZYou are never strong enough that you don’t need help.
More Cesar Chavez Quotes
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Through Gandhi and my own life experience, I have learned about nonviolence. I believe that human life is a very special gift from God, and that no one has a right to take that away in any cause, however just. I am convinced that nonviolence is more powerful than violence.
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There is no such thing as defeat in non-violence.
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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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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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The people who give you their food give you their heart.
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We have looked into the future and the future is ours.
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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 the final analysis it doesn’t really matter what the political system is. We don’t need perfect political systems; we need perfect participation.
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The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.
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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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Nonviolence is really tough. You don’t practice nonviolence at conferences; you practice it on picket-lines.
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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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From the depth of need and despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their own problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength.
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When you have people together who believe in something very strongly – whether it’s religion or politics or unions – things happen.
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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 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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Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other.
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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 draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.
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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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What is at stake is human dignity. If a man is not accorded respect he cannot respect himself and if he does not respect himself, he cannot demand it.
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There is no substitute for hard work, 23 or 24 hours a day. And there is no substitute for patience and acceptance.
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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.
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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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If you are interested in preventing animal suffering, the first thing you should give up is eggs and milk, because the animals who produce those foods lead the most unhappy lives. You would do better to eat meat and stop eating eggs and dairy products.
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Concentration is inspiration. You must be completely overtaken by your work and your subject. Only then do all your influences and experience come up to the surface.
CESAR CHAVEZ