Cesar Chavez Quotes
César Estrada Chávez was born on March 31, 1927 in Yuma, Arizona, United States. Cesar Chavez was an American labor leader, community organizer, businessman, and Latino American civil rights activist.
Cesar Chavez dedicated his life to improving treatment, pay and working conditions for farm workers. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later merged to become the United Farm Workers Labor Union. He died on the 23rd of April, 1993 in San Luis, Arizona, United States.
In this article, you will find a collection of famous Cesar Chavez quotes about life, non-violence, social change and education.
80 Cesar Chavez Quotes About Life, Education & Social Change
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
Talk is cheap…It is the way we organize and use our lives everyday that tells what we believe in.__Cesar Chavez
However important the struggle is and however much misery and poverty and degradation exist, we know that it cannot be more important than one human life.__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
If you win non-violently, then you have a double victory, you have not only won your fight, but you remain free.__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
Violence just hurts those who are already hurt…Instead of exposing the brutality of the oppressor, it justifies it.__Cesar Chavez
We are certain God’s will is that all men share in the good things this earth produces.__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
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
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
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
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
When any person suffers for someone in greater need, that person is a human.__Cesar Chavez
In 1968, I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry, and unhappy like we do..__Cesar Chavez
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.__Cesar Chavez
There’s no reason to be non-violent. There’s no challenge unless you are living for people.__Cesar Chavez
Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well with others.__Cesar Chavez
Being of service is not enough. You must become a servant of the people. When you do, you can demand their commitment in return.__Cesar Chavez
True wealth is not measured in money or status or power. It is measured in the legacy we leave behind for those we love and those we inspire.__Cesar Chavez
There is no substitute for hard work, 23 or 24 hours a day. And there is no substitute for patience and acceptance.__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
When we are really honest with ourselves we must admit our lives are all that really belong to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines the kind of men we are.__Cesar Chavez
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.__Cesar Chavez
Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves – and be free.__Cesar Chavez
Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures. __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 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
Those who are willing to sacrifice and be of service have very little difficulty with people. They know what they are all about. People can’t help but want to be near them. They help them; they work with them. That’s what love is all about. It starts with your heart and radiates out.__Cesar Chavez
The burdens of generations of poverty and powerlessness lie heavy in the fields of America. If we fail, there are those who will see violence as the shortcut to change.__Cesar Chavez
There’s no turning back…We will win. We are winning because ours is a revolution of mind and heart…__Cesar Chavez
When you have people together who believe in something very strongly – whether it’s religion or politics or unions – things happen.__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
When you sacrifice, you force others to sacrifice. It’s an extremely powerful weapon.__Cesar Chavez
It takes a lot of punishment to be able to do anything to change the social order.__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
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.__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
Non violence means people in action. People have to understand that with non-violence goes a hell of a lot of organization.__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
I think one of the great, great problems…is confusing people to the point where they become immobile. In fact, the more things people can find out for themselves, the more vigor the organization is going to have.__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
Non-violence has suffered its biggest defeat in the hands of people who most want to talk about it.__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
The only ones who make things change are fanatics. If you’re not a fanatic around here, you can’t cut it.__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 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
Years of misguided teaching have resulted in the destruction of the best in our society, in our cultures and in the environment.__Cesar Chavez
The first principle of non-violent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating.__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
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
[We believe that unions have always been about much more than the industries in which they operate.] The fight is never about grapes or lettuce, … It is always about people.__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
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 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
Kindness and compassion toward all living things is the mark of a civilized society.__Cesar Chavez
To make a great dream come true, the first requirement is a great capacity to dream; the second is persistence.__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
If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him… the people who give you their food give you their heart.__Cesar Chavez
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
We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community… Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.__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
Society is made up of groups, and as long as the smaller groups do not have the same rights and the same protection as others – I don[‘t care whether you call it capitalism or communism -it is not going to work. Somehow, the guys in power have to be reached by counterpower, or through a change in their hearts and minds, or change will not come.__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
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
Today, the growers are like a punch-drunk old boxer who doesn’t know he’s past his prime. The times are changing. The political and social environment has changed. The chickens are coming home to roost – and the time to account for past sins is approaching.__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
We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.__Cesar Chavez
As long as we have a poor country bordering California, it’s going to be very difficult to win strikes.__Cesar Chavez
Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak… Non-violence is hard work.__Cesar Chavez
In giving of yourself, you will discover a whole new life full of meaning and love.__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
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
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.__Cesar Chavez
We must understand that the highest form of freedom carries with it the greatest measure of discipline.__Cesar Chavez
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
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
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
We are suffering. We have suffered. And we are not afraid to suffer in order to win our cause.__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
20 Short Cesar Chavez Quotes
Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed.__Cesar Chavez
You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.__Cesar Chavez
The basis for peace is respecting all creatures.__Cesar Chavez
The people united will never be defeated.__Cesar Chavez
Grant me courage to serve others; For in service there is true life.__Cesar Chavez
You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read.__Cesar Chavez
Together, all things are possible__Cesar Chavez
Self dedication is a spiritual experience.__Cesar Chavez
There is no law for farm labor organizing, save the law of the jungle.__Cesar Chavez
In some cases non-violence requires more militancy than violence.__Cesar Chavez
The end of all knowledge should be service to others.__Cesar Chavez
You are never strong enough that you don’t need help.__Cesar Chavez
To be a man is to suffer for others. God help us to be men!__Cesar Chavez
If you want to remember me, organize!__Cesar Chavez
Without a union, the people are always cheated, and they are so innocent.__Cesar Chavez
We have seen the future, and the future is ours.__Cesar Chavez
In non-violence the cause has to be just and clear as well as the means.__Cesar Chavez
We’re going to pray a lot and picket a lot.__Cesar Chavez
What I do shows people what kind of person I am.__Cesar Chavez
We do not need to kill or destroy to win. We are a movement that builds and not destroys.__Cesar Chavez