One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible.

The line frames nonviolence not as a tactic chosen only when it “works,” but as a moral vocation—an obligation grounded in conscience, faith, or ethical principle. By pairing the call to nonviolence with the prospect that desired change may be “impossible,” it rejects outcome-based ethics and insists on fidelity to means even under despairing political conditions. In a Berrigan-like register, the statement implies that hope is enacted through disciplined practice rather than guaranteed results: one lives nonviolently because it is the right way to live, and because violent means corrupt the ends they claim to serve. The quote thus emphasizes integrity, perseverance, and witness.