14 Cesar Chavez Quotes on Non violence

Cesar Chavez quotes on non violence

2. You are here to discuss a matter which is of extreme importance to yourselves, your families and your community, so let's get to the subject at hand. A hundred and fifty-five years ago, in the state of Guanajuato in Mexico, a padre proclaimed the struggle for liberty. He was killed, but ten years later Mexico won its independence. We Mexicans here in the United States, as well as all other farm workers, are engaged in another struggle for the freedom and dignity which poverty denies us. But it must not be a violent struggle, even if violence is used against us. Violence can only hurt us and our cause. The law is for us as well as the ranchers. The strike was begun by the Filipinos, but it is not exclusively for them. Tonight we must decide if we are to join our fellow workers.

6. This is the beginning of a social movement in fact and not in pronouncements. We seek our basic, God-given rights as human beings. Because we have suffered - and are not afraid to suffer - in order to survive, we are ready to give up everything, even our lives, in our fight for social justice. We shall do it without violence because that is our destiny. To the ranchers, and to all those who opposes, we say, in the words of Benito Juarez: 'El respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz.' [Respect for another's right is the meaning of peace.]

30. My friends, as we enter a new decade, it should be clear to all of us that there is an unfinished agenda, that we have miles to go before we reach the promised land. The men who rule this country today never learned the lessons of Dr. King, they never learned that non-violence is the only way to peace and justice. Our nation continues to wage war upon its neighbors, and upon itself.

41. Farm workers everywhere are angry and worried that we cannot win without violence. We have proved it before through persistence, hard work, faith and willingness to sacrifice. We can win and keep our own self-respect and build a great union that will secure the spirit of all people if we do it through a re-dedication and re-commitment to the struggle for justice through non-violence.

58. In non-violence the cause has to be just and clear as well as the means.

59. In some cases non-violence requires more militancy than violence.

73. Non-violence has suffered its biggest defeat in the hands of people who most want to talk about it. Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak... Non-violence is hard work. It is the willingness to sacrifice. It is the patience to win. ... 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.

75. Non-violence is very weak in the theoretical sense; it cannot defend itself. But it is most powerful in the action situation where people are using non-violence because they want desperately to bring about some change. Non-violence in action is a very potent force and it can't be stopped. The people who are struggling have the complete say-so. No man-made law, no human ruler, no army can destroy this. There is no way it can be destroyed... And so, if we have the capacity to endure, if we have the patience, things will change.

78. Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

81. 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...

83. Our opponents in the agricultural industry are very powerful and farm workers are still weak in money and influence. But we have another kind of power that comes from the justice of our cause. So long as we are willing to sacrifice for that cause, so long as we persist in non-violence and work to spread the message of our struggle, then millions of people around the world will respond from their heart, will support our efforts... and in the end we will overcome.

87. People think non-violence is really weak and non-militant. These are misconceptions that people have because they don't understand what non-violence means. Non-violence takes more guts, if I can put it bluntly, than violence. Most violent acts are accomplished by getting the opponent off guard, and it doesn't take that much character, I think, if one wants to do it.

106. The non-violent technique does not depend for its success on the goodwill of the oppressor, but rather on the unfailing assistance of God.

138. We maintain that you cannot really be effective in anything you are doing if you are so loaded with violence that you cannot think rationally about what you have to do. We know that violence works. I'm not going to say it doesn't work. Total violence still works and is working many places. I disagree that it has long-lasting good results. I disagree with that. But violence works only when it's total violence, and non-violence works only when it's total non-violence. And you can't have anything in between.