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Because we have suffered, and we are not afraid to suffer in order to survive, we are ready to give up everything – even our lives – in our struggle for justice.

Cesar Chavez

The first principle of non-violent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Principle Violence
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
Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other.
CESAR CHAVEZ

History Respect
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.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Leadership Myself People Talk
The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Fight People
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
Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well with others.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Learning Life Live Violence
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 CHAVEZ

Achievement Alone Judgement Live Material Possible Wealth World
When you have people together who believe in something very strongly – whether it’s religion or politics or unions – things happen.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Believe People Politics Religion Strong Togetherness Unity
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.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Dignity Human Ourselves People Poor
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?
CESAR CHAVEZ

Best Book Education Goodness Humanity Reality
Violence just hurts those who are already hurt. Instead of exposing the brutality of the oppressor, it justifies it.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Hurt Oppression Violence
We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Difference Endurance Force Live Myself
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.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Believe Creation Fall Give Up Imagination Lost Suffering Violence Win
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.
CESAR CHAVEZ

Expectation Himself Leadership Man People Reason

Because we have suffered, and we are not afraid to suffer in order to survive, we are ready to give up everything – even our lives – in our struggle for justice.

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Because we have suffered, and we are not afraid to suffer in order to survive, we are ready to give up everything – even our lives – in our struggle for justice.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Cesar Chavez Quotes