Civil rights activist Quotes

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

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.

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.

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.

The people united will never be defeated.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read.

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

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.

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

You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.

Jim Crow is alive and it's dressed in a Brooks Brothers suit, my friend, instead of a white robe.

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.

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

In 1968, I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry, and unhappy like we do.

We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.

We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community - and this nation.

There's no turning back...We will win. We are winning because ours is a revolution of mind and heart.

We have looked into the future and the future is ours.

I have reached a point in my life where I understand the pain and the challenges; and my attitude is one of standing up with open arms to meet them all.

You have treated the arts as the cherry on the cake. It needs to be the yeast.

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.

I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness, is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally nonviolent struggle for justice. To be a man is to suffer for others. God help us to be men!

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

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?

We are confident. We have ourselves. We know how to sacrifice. We know how to work. We know how to combat the forces that oppose us. But even more than that, we are true believers in the whole idea of justice. Justice is so much on our side, that that is going to see us through.

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 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.

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.

It's amazing how people can get so excited about a rocket to the moon and not give a damn about smog, oil leaks, the devastation of the environment with pesticides, hunger, disease. When the poor share some of the power that the affluent now monopolize, we will give a damn.

Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed.

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.

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.

Based on my experience, I've seen where unity amongst the races has yielded positive results. I don't see any other way for people to gain freedom, justice, and equality here except by being internationalist.

When you sacrifice, you force others to sacrifice. It's an extremely powerful weapon.

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.

Our language is the reflection of ourselves.

Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well with others.

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

Today, the growers are like a punch-drunk old boxer who doesn't know he's past his prime. The times are changing. The political and social environment has changed. The chickens are coming home to roost - and the time to account for past sins is approaching.

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

Society is made up of groups, and as long as the smaller groups do not have the same rights and the same protection as others - I don['t care whether you call it capitalism or communism -it is not going to work. Somehow, the guys in power have to be reached by counterpower, or through a change in their hearts and minds, or change will not come.

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.

There's no reason to be non-violent. There's no challenge unless you are living for 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.