I’m not going to ask for anything unless the workers want it. If they want it, they’ll ask for it.
CESAR CHAVEZI’m not going to ask for anything unless the workers want it. If they want it, they’ll ask for it.
CESAR CHAVEZI 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!
CESAR CHAVEZConcentration 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 CHAVEZHistory 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.
CESAR CHAVEZI 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 CHAVEZIf you’re not frightened that you might fail, you’ll never do the job. If you’re frightened, you’ll work like crazy.
CESAR CHAVEZOur 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 CHAVEZIt is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life.
CESAR CHAVEZBecause 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 CHAVEZThe non-violent technique does not depend for its success on the goodwill of the oppressor, but rather on the unfailing assistance of God.
CESAR CHAVEZThrough 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.
CESAR CHAVEZPreservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other.
CESAR CHAVEZThe end of all knowledge must be the building up of character.
CESAR CHAVEZIn the no-nonsense school of adversity, which we did not choose for ourselves, we are learning how to operate a labor union.
CESAR CHAVEZIf 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.
CESAR CHAVEZStudents must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves – and be free.
CESAR CHAVEZ