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Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak... Non-violence is hard work.

Cesar Chavez

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Cesar Chavez
Age: 66 †
Born: 1927
Born: March 31
Died: 1993
Died: April 23
Civil Rights Activist
Human Rights Activist
Laborer
Politician
Trade Unionist
Yuma
Arizona
César Chávez
César Estrada Chávez
Cesar Estrada Chavez
Antiwar
Discussion
Weak
Violence
Peace
War
Hard
Timid
Work
Inaction

More quotes by Cesar Chavez

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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
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There's no reason to be non-violent. There's no challenge unless you are living for people.
Cesar Chavez
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When workers fall back on violence, they are lost. Oh, they might win some of their demands and might end a strike a little earlier, but they give up their imagination, their creativity, their will to work hard and to suffer for what they believe is right.
Cesar Chavez
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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
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[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
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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
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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
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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
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Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.
Cesar Chavez
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We're going to pray a lot and picket a lot.
Cesar Chavez
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...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
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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
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We are suffering. We have suffered. And we are not afraid to suffer in order to win our cause.
Cesar Chavez
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Self dedication is a spiritual experience.
Cesar Chavez
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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
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We are convinced that non-violence is more powerful than violence. We are convinced that non-violence supports you if you have a just and moral cause...If you use violence, you have to sell part of yourself for that violence. Then you are no longer a master of your own struggle.
Cesar Chavez
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Non-violence has suffered its biggest defeat in the hands of people who most want to talk about it.
Cesar Chavez
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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
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The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.
Cesar Chavez
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Years of misguided teaching have resulted in the destruction of the best in our society, in our cultures and in the environment.
Cesar Chavez