Non violence means people in action. People have to understand that with non-violence goes a hell of a lot of organization.

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.

I remember with strong feelings the families who joined our movement and paid dues long before there was any hope of winning contracts. Sometimes, fathers and mothers would take money out of their meager food budgets just because they believed that farm workers could and must build their own union. I remember thinking then that with spirit like that... we had to win. No force on earth could stop us.

...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.

We must understand that the highest form of freedom carries with it the greatest measure of discipline.

If we are full of hatred, we can't really do our work. Hatred saps all that strength and energy we need to plan.

This is the beginning of a social movement in fact and not in pronouncements. We seek our basic, God - given rights as human beings...We shall do it without violence because it is our destiny. To the growers and to all who oppose us, we say the words of Benito Juarez: `Respect for another's right is the meaning of peace.'