César Chávez > Quotes

“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

“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 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

“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

“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

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

“You are never strong enough that you don't need help.”
― 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

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

“The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.”
― 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

“Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”
― 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

“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.”
― César Chávez

“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

“Since I had the inclinatation and the training, helping people came naturally. I wasn't thinking in terms of organizing members, but just a duty that I had to do. That goes back to my mother's training. It was not until later that I realized that this was a good organizing tool, although maybe unconsciously, I was already beggining to understand.

But I was used by people for a long time until I wised up. It wasn't that they wanted to do it, but that I was not prepared or able to tell them what to do in return. My work was just another war on poverty gimick, which is what happens when people are given everything and don't give anything in return. you can't mold them into any action.

Well, one night it just hit me. Once you helped people, most became very loyal. The people who helped us back when we wanted volunteers were the people we had helped. So I began to get a group of those people around me.

Once I realized helping people was an organizing technique, I increased that work. I was willing to work all day and night and go to hell and back for people- provided they also did something for the CSO in return. I never felt bad asking for that. It didn't contradict my parents' teachings, because I wasn't asking for something for myself.

For a long time we didn't know how to put that work together into an organization. But we learned after a while- we learned how to help people by making them responsible. Today it's the same principle with the Union. And it works. We don't get everybody, but we get enough to get that nucleus. I think solving problems for people is the only way to build solid groups.”
― 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, The Words of César Chávez

“There is no such thing as defeat in non-violence.”
― César Chávez

“You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read.”
― César Chávez

“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

“We need to help students and parent cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community--and this nation.”
― César Chávez

“Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.”
― César Chávez

“We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.”
― César Chávez

“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.”
― César Chávez

“Sí, se puede!”
― César Chávez, Great Speeches: Volume 18

“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.”
― César Chávez