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

To make a great dream come true, the first requirement is a great capacity to dream; the second is persistence.

Cesar Chavez

persistence requirements dream

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

san-francisco pride peace

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

wealth legacy inspire

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

achievement ambition change

The people united will never be defeated.

Cesar Chavez

united defeated people

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

government powerful judging

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

Cesar Chavez

disrespect other-cultures diversity

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

Cesar Chavez

true-life grants

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

sacrifice men children

Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves - and be free.

Cesar Chavez

initiative students thinking

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

Cesar Chavez

hard-work war peace

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

Cesar Chavez

fighting struggle peace

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

powerful struggle justice

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

Cesar Chavez

and-love new-life giving

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

Cesar Chavez

sacrifice suffering needs

You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read.

Cesar Chavez

humiliate persons

What I do shows people what kind of person I am.

Cesar Chavez

kind shows people

You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.

Cesar Chavez

not-afraid democracy people

Together, all things are possible

Cesar Chavez

all-things together

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

only-love bitter next