Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
To make a great dream come true, the first requirement is a great capacity to dream; the second is persistence.
If you win non-violently, then you have a double victory, you have not only won your fight, but you remain free.
If we are full of hatred, we can't really do our work. Hatred saps all that strength and energy we need to plan.
Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak... Non-violence is hard work.
There is no substitute for hard work, 23 or 24 hours a day. And there is no substitute for patience and acceptance.
If you're not frightened that you might fail, you'll never do the job. If you're frightened, you'll work like crazy.
Violence just hurts those who are already hurt...Instead of exposing the brutality of the oppressor, it justifies it.
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.
We don't know how God chooses martyrs. We do know that they give us the most precious gift they possess - their very lives.
Non violence means people in action. People have to understand that with non-violence goes a hell of a lot of organization.
Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.
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.
In the no-nonsense school of adversity, which we did not choose for ourselves, we are learning how to operate a labor union.
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.
Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves - and be free.
Being of service is not enough. You must become a servant of the people. When you do, you can demand their commitment in return.
Years of misguided teaching have resulted in the destruction of the best in our society, in our cultures and in the environment.
We'll organize workers in this movement as long as we're willing to sacrifice. The moment we stop sacrificing, we stop organizing.
When you have people together who believe in something very strongly - whether it's religion or politics or unions - things happen.
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.
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.
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.
Organizing is an educational process. The best educational process in the union is the picket line and the boycott. You learn about life.
The non-violent technique does not depend for its success on the goodwill of the oppressor, but rather on the unfailing assistance of God.
Farm workers are society's canaries. Farm workers - and their children - demonstrate the effects of pesticide poisoning before anyone else.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community - and this nation.
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.
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.
We farm workers are closest to food production. We were the first to recognize the serious health hazards of agriculture pesticides to both consumers and ourselves.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect them and love them as we love ourselves...
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.
[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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.