Cesar Chavez Quotes & Sayings

We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure. — Cesar Chavez

We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that the animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect them and love them as we love ourselves. — Cesar Chavez

There's no reason to be non-violent. There's no challenge unless you are living for people. — Cesar Chavez

Jesus' life and words are a challenge at the same time that they are Good News. They are a challenge to those of us who are poor and oppressed. By His life He is calling us to give ourselves to others, to sacrifice for those who suffer, to share our lives with our brothers and sisters who are also oppressed. He is calling us to "hunger and thirst after justice" in the same way that we hunger and thirst after food and water: that is, by putting our yearning into practice. — Cesar Chavez

In the no-nonsense school of adversity, which we did not choose for ourselves, we are learning how to operate a labor union. — Cesar Chavez

Across the San Joaquin valley, across California, across the entire nation, wherever there are injustices against men and women and children who work in the fields - there you will see our flags - with the black eagle with the white and red background, flying. Our movement is spreading like flames across a dry plain. — Cesar Chavez

In some cases non-violence requires more militancy than violence. — Cesar Chavez

The name of the game is to talk to people. If you don't talk to people, you can't get started ... You knock on twenty doors or so, and twenty guys tell you to go to hell, or that they haven't got time. But maybe at the fortieth or sixtieth house you find the one guy who is all you need. You're not going to organize everything; you're just going to get it started. — Cesar Chavez

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

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

We know what unions have done for other people. We have seen it and we have studied and we have cherished the idea of unionism. We have seen the history and development of unions in this country and we tell the growers that we want nothing more, but that we want our own union and we are going to fight for it as long as it takes. — Cesar Chavez

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. — Cesar Chavez

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

I'm not going to ask for anything unless the workers want it. If they want it, they'll ask for it. — Cesar Chavez

There is no law for farm labor organizing, save the law of the jungle. — Cesar Chavez

We know we cannot be kind to animals until we stop exploiting them
exploiting animals in the name of science, exploiting animals in the name of sport, exploiting animals in the name of fashion, and yes, exploiting animals in the name of food. — Cesar Chavez

Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well with others. — Cesar Chavez

"The life of the union depends upon more people getting to share the limelight, because with the limelight also comes responsibility and with the responsibility comes a little sharing of the load." "There isn't enough money to organize poor people. There never is enough money to organize anyone. If you put it on the basis of money, you're not going to succeed." — Cesar Chavez

There has to be someone who is willing to do it, who is willing to take whatever risks are required. I don't think it can be done with money alone. The person has to be dedicated to the task. There has to be some other motivation. — Cesar Chavez

I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry and unhappy like we do. I feel very deeply about vegetarianism and the animal kingdom. It was my dog Boycott who led me to question the right of humans to eat other sentient beings. — Cesar Chavez

There are many reasons for why a man does what de 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

It takes a lot of punishment to be able to do anything to change the social order. — Cesar Chavez

Perhaps we can bring the day when children will learn from their earliest days that being fully man and fully woman means to give one's life to the liberation of the brother [and sister] who suffers. It is up to each one of us. It won't happen unless we decide to use our lives to show the way. — Cesar Chavez

Farm workers everywhere are angry and worried that we cannot win without violence. We have proved it before through persistence, hard work, faith and willingness to sacrifice. We can win and keep our own self-respect and build a great union that will secure the spirit of all people if we do it through a re-dedication and re-commitment to the struggle for justice through non-violence. — Cesar Chavez

Look at the John Birch Society. Look at Hitler. The reactionaries are always better organizers. — Cesar Chavez

You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. — Cesar Chavez

What we do know absolutely is that human lives are worth more than grapes and that innocent-looking grapes on the table may disguise poisonous residues hidden deep inside where washing cannot reach. — Cesar Chavez

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. — Cesar Chavez

We have suffered unnumbered ills and crimes in the name of the Law of the Land. Our men, women and children have suffered not only the basic brutality of stoop labor, and the most obvious injustices of the system; they have also suffered the desperation of knowing that the system caters to the greed of callous men and not to our needs. Now we will suffer for the purpose of ending the poverty, the misery, and the injustice, with the hope that our children will not be exploited as we have been. They have imposed hungers on us, and now we hunger for justice. — Cesar Chavez

Grant me courage to serve others;
For in service there is true life. — Cesar Chavez

We farm workers are closest to food production. We were the first to recognize the serious health hazards of agriculture pesticides to both consumers and ourselves. — Cesar Chavez

We are organizers at heart. Most of us in the movement take great pride in being able to put things together. — Cesar Chavez

Non-violence exacts a very high price from one who practices it. But once you are able to meet that demand then you can do most things. — Cesar Chavez

In 1968, I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry, and unhappy like we do.. — Cesar Chavez

The thing that we have going for us is that people are willing to sacrifice themselves. — Cesar Chavez

Our struggle is not easy. Those who oppose our cause are rich and powerful and they have many allies in high places. We are poor. Our allies are few. But we have something the rich do not own. We have our bodies and spirits and the justice of our cause as our weapons. — Cesar Chavez

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

We must understand that the highest form of freedom carries with it the greatest measure of discipline. — Cesar Chavez

The end of all knowledge must be the building up of character. — Cesar Chavez

Non-violence is very weak in the theoretical sense; it cannot defend itself. But it is most powerful in the action situation where people are using non-violence because they want desperately to bring about some change. Non-violence in action is a very potent force and it can't be stopped. The people who are struggling have the complete say-so. No man-made law, no human ruler, no army can destroy this. There is no way it can be destroyed ... And so, if we have the capacity to endure, if we have the patience, things will change. — Cesar Chavez

In non-violence the cause has to be just and clear as well as the means. — Cesar Chavez

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. — Cesar Chavez

There is a great fear of our Union - a fear that I do not fully understand, but that I know is present ... What is it that causes some men to act so hastily and so cruelly? It cannot be that we are so powerful. Is it so much to ask that the poorest people of the land have a measure of justice? — Cesar Chavez

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. — Cesar Chavez

You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. — Cesar Chavez

We shall strike. We shall organize boycotts. We shall demonstrate and have political campaigns. We shall pursue the revolution we have proposed. We are sons and daughters of the farm workers' revolution, a revolution of the poor seeking bread and justice. — Cesar Chavez

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. — Cesar Chavez

When any person suffers for someone in greater need, that person is a human. — Cesar Chavez

We'll organize workers in this movement as long as we're willing to sacrifice. The moment we stop sacrificing, we stop organizing. — Cesar Chavez

Money is not going to organize the disadvantaged, the powerless, or the poor. We need other weapons. That's why the War on Poverty is such a miserable failure. You put out a big pot of money and all you do is fight over it. Then you run out of money and you run out of troops. — Cesar Chavez

To be a man is to suffer for others. God help us to be men! — Cesar Chavez

What, then, is the effect of pesticides? Pesticides have created a legacy of pain, and misery, and death for farm workers and consumers alike. The crop which poses the greatest danger, and the focus of our struggle, is the table grape crop. These pesticides soak the fields. Drift with the wind, pollute the water, and are eaten by unwitting consumers. These poisons are designed to kill, and pose a very real threat to consumers and farm workers alike. — Cesar Chavez

The people united will never be defeated. — Cesar Chavez

The road to social justice for the farm worker is the road of unionization. Our cause, our strike against table grapes and our international boycott are all founded upon our deep conviction that the form of collective self-help, which is unionization, holds far more hope for the farm worker than any other single approach, whether public or private. This conviction is what brings spirit, high hope and optimism to everything we do. — Cesar Chavez

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

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

The poor, you know, have a way of solving problems ... they have a tremendous capacity for suffering. And so when you build a vehicle to get something done, as we've done here in the strike and the boycott, then they continue to suffer - and maybe a little bit more - but the suffering becomes less important because they see a chance of progress; sometimes progress itself. They've been suffering all their live.s It's a question of suffering with some kind of hope now. That's better than suffering with no hope at all. — Cesar Chavez

When a man or woman, young, or old, takes a place on the picket line for even a day or two, he will never be the same again. — Cesar Chavez

What I do shows people what kind of person I am. — Cesar Chavez

If you're not frightened that you might fail, you'll never do the job. If you're frightened, you'll work like crazy. — Cesar Chavez

Together, all things are possible — Cesar Chavez

Kindness and compassion towards all living things is a mark of a civilized society. Conversely, cruelty, whether it is directed against human beings or against animals, is not the exclusive province of any one culture or community of people. — Cesar Chavez

Talk is cheap ... It is the way we organize and use our lives everyday that tells what we believe in. — Cesar Chavez

When you sacrifice, you force others to sacrifice. It's an extremely powerful weapon. — Cesar Chavez

There is no such thing as defeat in non-violence. — Cesar Chavez

Our lives are all that really belong to us, so it is how we use our lives that determines what kind of men we are — Cesar Chavez

Years of misguided teaching have resulted in the destruction of the best in our society, in our cultures and in the environment. — Cesar Chavez

Until the chance for political participation is there, we who are poor will continue to attack the soft part of the American system - its economic structure. We will build power through boycotts, strikes, new union - whatever techniques we can develop. These attacks on the status quo will come, not because we hate, but because we know America can construct a humane society for all its citizens - and that if it does not, there will chaos. — Cesar Chavez

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. — Cesar Chavez

People who have lost their hunger for justice are not ultimately powerful. They are like sick people who have lost their appetite for what is truly nourishing. Such sick people should not frighten or discourage us. They should be prayed for along with the sick people who are in the hospital. "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." — Cesar Chavez

It is not good enough to know why we are oppressed and by whom. We must join the struggle for what is right and just. Jesus does not promise that it will be an easy way to live life and His own life certainly points in a hard direction; but it does promise that we will be "satisfied" (not stuffed; but satisfied). He promises that by giving life we will find life - full, meaningful life as God meant it. — Cesar Chavez

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

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

Self dedication is a spiritual experience. — Cesar Chavez

Never, never is it possible to reach someone if you become angry or bitter only love and gentleness can do it. Maybe not this time but maybe the next or the hundredth time. — Cesar Chavez

Our union represents a breaking away ... represents sharing a power, represent questioning, represents a new force ... however long it takes, we are geared for a struggle. — Cesar Chavez

Since the Church is to be servant to the poor, it is our fault if that wealth is not channeled to help the poor in our world. — Cesar Chavez

We are tired of words, of betrayals, of indifference ... they years are gone when the farm worker said nothing an did nothing to help himself ... Now we have new faith. Through our strong will, our movement is changing these conditions ... We shall be heard. — Cesar Chavez

If you're outraged at conditions, then you can't possibly be free or happy until you devote all your time to changing them and do nothing but that. But you can't change anything if you want to hold onto a good job, a good way of life and avoid sacrifice. — Cesar Chavez

If you win non-violently, then you have a double victory, you have not only won your fight, but you remain free. — Cesar Chavez

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. — Cesar Chavez

Organizing is an educational process. The best educational process in the union is the picket line and the boycott. You learn about life. — Cesar Chavez

We are certain God's will is that all men share in the good things this earth produces. — Cesar Chavez

We are confident. We have ourselves. We know how to sacrifice. We know how to work. We know how to combat the forces that oppose us. But even more than that, we are true believers in the whole idea of justice. Justice is so much on our side, that that is going to see us through. — Cesar Chavez

Imagine the National Guard being called against a group of peaceful people. How far can we get; how disgraceful can it become? It's the most disgraceful, the most wicked thing I've seen in all my years of organizing farm labor. — Cesar Chavez

The workers aren't going to stop struggling. They're going to struggle to have a union and they have the right to have it. The police repression and the grower indifference to the workers' demands for recognition cannot go unheard so we're going to keep on struggling until we get that recognition. — Cesar Chavez

Non violence means people in action. People have to understand that with non-violence goes a hell of a lot of organization. — Cesar Chavez

If they had $2.00 for food, they had to give $1.00 to the union. Otherwise, they would never get out of the trap of poverty. They would never have a union because they couldn't afford to sacrifice a little bit more on top of their misery. — Cesar Chavez

Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers. — Cesar Chavez

Kindness and compassion toward all living things is the mark of a civilized society. — Cesar Chavez

We do not need to kill or destroy to win. We are a movement that builds and not destroys. — Cesar Chavez

Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.
Cesar Chavez
Address to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Nov. 9, 1984 — Cesar Chavez

We're going to pray a lot and picket a lot. — Cesar Chavez

It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life. I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally non-violent struggle for justice. — Cesar Chavez

We don't know how God chooses martyrs. We do know that they give us the most precious gift they possess - their very lives. — Cesar Chavez

The strike and the boycott, they have cost us much. What they have not paid us in wages, better working conditions, and new contracts, they have paid us in self-respect and human dignity. — Cesar Chavez

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. — Cesar Chavez

Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures. — Cesar Chavez

So they are trying to do something about it. They are not doing it by seeking charity. They are not begging at the welfare office. They are not, like many of their employers, lobbying the halls of Congress with their gold plated tin cups asking to be paid for not growing crops. They are trying to do it in the way that millions of other Americans have shown is the right way-organization, unionism, collective bargaining. — Cesar Chavez

It is clearly evident that our path travels through a valley of teas well known to all farm workers, because in all valleys the way of the farm worker has bene one of sacrifice for generations. Our sweat and our blood have fallen on this land to make other men rich. This Pilgrimage is a witness to the suffering we have seen for generations. — Cesar Chavez