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When workers fall back on violence, they are lost. Oh, they might win some of their demands and might end a strike a little earlier, but they give up their imagination, their creativity, their will to work hard and to suffer for what they believe is right.

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 God.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Failure God Oppression Success Violence
What I do shows people what kind of person I am.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Kind Myself People
You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Education Learning Reading Yourself
We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community – and this nation.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Community Help Nation Need Parents Strength Student
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.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Children Live Ourselves Parents Sacrifice
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.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Children Enjoyment Man Morning Night Oppression Time Women
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.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Courage Gift God Human Justice Life Limitation Opportunity Possible Promise Time World
To make a great dream come true, the first requirement is a great capacity to dream; the second is persistence.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Dreams Greatness Persistence True
Nonviolence is really tough. You don’t practice nonviolence at conferences; you practice it on picket-lines.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Battle Practice Violence
Talk is cheap. It is the way we organize and use our lives everyday that tells what we believe in.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Believe Live Talk
Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other.
CESAR CHAVEZ

History Respect
I’m not going to ask for anything unless the workers want it. If they want it, they’ll ask for it.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Leadership Myself
Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Character Growth Language Ourselves Reflection
If we are full of hatred, we can’t really do our work. Hatred saps all that strength and energy we need to plan.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Hate Planning Strength
There is enough love and good will in our movement to give energy to our struggle and still have plenty left over to break down and change the climate of hate and fear around us.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Break Change Enough Fear Hate Love Ourselves
There is no such thing as defeat in non-violence.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Defeat Violence

When workers fall back on violence, they are lost. Oh, they might win some of their demands and might end a strike a little earlier, but they give up their imagination, their creativity, their will to work hard and to suffer for what they believe is right.

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When workers fall back on violence, they are lost. Oh, they might win some of their demands and might end a strike a little earlier, but they give up their imagination, their creativity, their will to work hard and to suffer for what they believe is right.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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