If they had $2.00 for food, they had to give $1.00 to the union. Otherwise, they would never get out of the trap of poverty. They would never have a union because they couldn't afford to sacrifice a little bit more on top of their misery.

If you win non-violently, then you have a double victory, you have not only won your fight, but you remain free.

I'm not going to ask for anything unless the workers want it. If they want it, they'll ask for it.

Perhaps we can bring the day when children will learn from their earliest days that being fully man and fully woman means to give one's life to the liberation of the brother [and sister] who suffers. It is up to each one of us. It won't happen unless we decide to use our lives to show the way.

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.

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.

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