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Cesar Chavez employed nonviolent means to bring attention to the plight of farmworkers and formed the National Farm Workers Association, which later became United Farm Workers. As a labor leader, Chavez led marches, called for boycotts and went on several hunger strikes. His steadfast efforts helped achieve dignity, fair wages, benefits, and humane working conditions for hundreds of thousands of farmworkers. It is believed that Chavez’s hunger strikes contributed to his death on April 23, 1993, in San Luis, Arizona. Below are 28 famous Cesar Chavez quotes. Enjoy!
Powerful Cesar Chavez Quotes
“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
“Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.”
~ 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.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“To make a great dream come true, the first requirement is a great capacity to dream; the second is persistence.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“In giving of yourself, you will discover a whole new life full of meaning and love.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“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
“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
“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
“Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak… Non-violence is hard work.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“The people who give you their food give you their heart.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“When you sacrifice, you force others to sacrifice. It’s an extremely powerful weapon.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“You know, if people are not pacifists, it’s not their fault. It’s because society puts them in that spot. You’ve got to change it. You don’t just change a man – you’ve got to change his environment as you do it.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“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?”
~ Cesar Chavez
“We are certain God’s will is that all men share in the good things this earth produces.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“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.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“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.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“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
“The picket line is the best place to train organizers. One day on the picket line is where a man makes his commitment. The longer on the picket line, the stronger the commitment. A lot of workers think they make their commitment by walking off the job when nobody sees them. But you get a guy to walk off the field when his boss is watching and, in front of the other guys, throw down his tools and march right to the picket line, that is the guy who makes our strike. The picket line is a beautiful thing because it makes a man more human.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“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…”
~ Cesar Chavez
“Organizing is an educational process. The best educational process in the union is the picket line and the boycott. You learn about life.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“We don’t know how God chooses martyrs. We do know that they give us the most precious gift they possess – their very lives.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“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.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“There is enough love and goodwill 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.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“If you win non-violently, then you have a double victory, you have not only won your fight, but you remain free.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“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.”
~ Cesar Chavez
“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.”
~ 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
Video of Famous Cesar Chavez Quotes
10 Interesting Facts About Cesar Chavez
1. He inspired Obama’s “Yes, we can” line.
During a 25-day fast in 1972, Chavez and Huerta coined the slogan “Si, se puede,” Spanish for “Yes, it can be done.” It became the UFW’s official motto and a rallying cry for Latino civil rights in general, and later inspired the phrase “Yes, we can” for President Obama’s 2008 election campaign.
2. One of his 31 grandchildren is a pro golfer.
Chavez and his wife, Helen Fabela, had eight children and 31 grandchildren. One of their grandchildren is professional golfer Sam Chavez, who plays on the PGA Tour.
3. A U.S. Navy cargo ship is named after him.
An array of American streets, schools and even a national monument are named after Cesar Chavez. But he also spent two years in the U.S. Navy, and since Lewis and Clark-class cargo ships are named after “American pioneers and visionaries,” the USNS Cesar Chavez debuted in 2011.
4. He attended 38 different schools before 8th grade.
As migrant farmworkers, Chavez’s family moved often when he was young. That meant Chavez had to change schools 38 times before finally dropping out to help support his parents. But despite his own limited schooling, Chavez later advocated education as a means for social improvement.
5. He had a complex view of immigration.
Chavez was opposed to illegal immigration since the beginning of UFW, arguing undocumented workers could be used by employers as strikebreakers and undermine the pay for legal workers. As public opinion about amnesty shifted over time, though, Chavez eventually softened his stance.
6. He lost support for meeting with a dictator.
Chavez was widely criticized for accepting a 1977 invitation to Manila by Ferdinand Marcos, a 20-year president of the Philippines accused of human rights abuses and corruption. Chavez hoped to win support from Filipino-American farmworkers, but by endorsing the regime also lost some allies.
7. He was interested in the anti-drug cult Synanon.
In his later years, Chavez studied modern management techniques and group dynamics, including a strange drug-rehab program, “alternative lifestyle community” and a religious cult called Synanon. The extent of his involvement isn’t entirely clear, and Synanon was defunct by the 1990s, but according to biographer Miriam Pawel, Chavez’s interest in the cult caused more conflict within UFW.
8. He once turned down a job from JFK.
President John F. Kennedy reportedly offered in 1962 to make Chavez head of the Peace Corps for part of Latin America, but Chavez declined so he could continue trying to organize farmworkers. That was the same year he and Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association.
9. He fasted for 36 days at age 61 to protest pesticides.
Under Chavez, the UFW helped secure union contracts that prohibited the use of DDT, required protective clothing to reduce workers’ exposure to other pesticides, and prevented spraying while workers were in the fields. He also fasted for 36 days in 1988 to protest pesticide use on grapes.
10. He was a vegetarian.
“I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry, and unhappy like we do,” Chavez once said. “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.”
