"That's all nonviolence is - organized love"
About this Quote
The intent is both moral and tactical. By defining nonviolence as love with a plan, she strips away the caricature of peaceful protest as mere sentiment. “Organized” implies training, community infrastructure, strategy meetings, risk. It also hints at the messy truth of movements: love doesn’t magically harmonize people; it has to be structured into collective action that can withstand fear, provocation, and fatigue.
Context matters: Baez isn’t a theorist talking from the podium; she’s a singer whose career is braided with civil rights marches, anti-war activism, and the broader 1960s argument about what legitimate resistance looks like. Her credibility comes from proximity to the stakes - bodies in the street, reputations on the line, state power pushing back.
Subtextually, the line challenges cynicism. It says: if you want to dismiss love as weak, you’re misunderstanding what love becomes when it’s shared, organized, and willing to confront brutality without reproducing it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Peace |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: The Elements of Peace (J. Frederick Arment, 2014) modern compilationISBN: 9780786491490 · ID: 0OLv7Y_6-ucC
Evidence: ... That's all nonviolence is , organized love . – Joan Baez , American singer and songwriter Omnia vincit amor ; et nos cedamus amori . – Virgil , Roman poet This page intentionally left blank Appendix : The Methods and Conclusion 233. Other candidates (1) Chapter 17: “Or Does It Explode?” (Howard Zinn, 1980) primary60.0% Song: "Chapter 17: “Or Does It Explode?”" by Howard Zinn |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Baez, Joan. (2026, February 13). That's all nonviolence is - organized love. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/thats-all-nonviolence-is-organized-love-122923/
Chicago Style
Baez, Joan. "That's all nonviolence is - organized love." FixQuotes. February 13, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/thats-all-nonviolence-is-organized-love-122923/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"That's all nonviolence is - organized love." FixQuotes, 13 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/thats-all-nonviolence-is-organized-love-122923/. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.












