Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. — Cesar Chavez

Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. We have seen the future, and the future is ours. — Cesar Chavez

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

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

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

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

Self dedication is a spiritual experience. — 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

Just as Dr. King was a disciple of Gandhi and Christ, we must now be Dr. King’s disciples. Dr. King challenged us to work for a greater humanity. I only hope that we are worthy of his challenge. — Cesar Chavez

Non–violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak. Non–violence is hard work. It is the willingness to sacrifice. It is the patience to win. — 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

I would not take one cup of coffee from a grower…There’s not a good one. I hate them. A few presents, a little talk, then the noose. That’s how capitalism works. — 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

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

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

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

Who gets the risks? The risks are given to the consumer, the unsuspecting consumer and the poor work force. And who gets the benefits? The benefits are only for the corporations, for the money makers. — Cesar Chavez

You are never strong enough where you don’t need help. — 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

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

The people who give you their food give you their heart. — 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

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 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

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

Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well ourselves. — 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

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

It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life. — Cesar Chavez

Talk is cheap, it is the way we organize and use our lives every day that tells what we believe in. — 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

Our conviction is that human life and limb are a very special possession given by God to man and that no one has the right to take that away, in any cause, however just… — 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In giving of yourself, you will discover a whole new life full of meaning and love. — 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