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Saul Alinsky

Saul Alinsky Quotes

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Famous Saul Alinsky Quotes

“Life is there ahead of you and either one tests oneself in its challenges or huddles in the valleys of a dreamless day-to-day existence whose only purpose is the preservation of a illusory security and safety. The latter is what the vast majority of people choose to do, fearing the adventure into the known.”

PeopleLifeLife IsPurposeChallengesExistenceKnownSecurityAdventureTestsSafetyMajorityOneselfLatterValleysDay To DayPreservationIllusoryRules For Radicals
Book:Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
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“In this world laws are written for the lofty aim of "the common good" and then acted out in life on the basis of the common greed. In this world irrationality clings to man like his shadow so that the right things get done for the wrong reasons - afterwards, we dredge up the right reasons for justification. It is a world not of angels but of angles, where men speak of moral principles but act on power principles; a world where we are always moral and our enemies always immoral; a world where "reconciliation" means that when one side gets the power and the other side gets reconciled to it.”

MenWorldMeanReasonDoneLawSpeakSidesCommonMoralEnemyPrinciplesWrittenThis WorldAngelShadowBasesAimGreedRight ThingJustificationAngleImmoralReconciliationLoftyCommon GoodIrrationalityMoral PrinciplesWrong ReasonsRules For Radicals
Author:Saul Alinsky
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“Men don't like to step abruptly out of the security of familiar experience; they need a bridge to cross from their own experience to a new way. A revolutionary organizer must shake up the prevailing patterns of their lives - agitate, create disenchantment and discontent with the current values, to produce, if not a passion for change, at least a passive, affirmative, non-challenging climate.”

IfsMenWayNeedsValuesPassionChallengesStepsSecurityProduceCrossesClimatePatternsCurrentsFamiliarBridgesRevolutionaryShakesPassiveNew WaysDiscontentPrevailingAffirmativeOrganizerRules For RadicalsAgitateDisenchantment
Author:Saul Alinsky
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“The democratic ideal springs from the ideas of liberty, equality, majority rule through free elections, protection of the rights of minorities, and freedom to subscribe to multiple loyalties in matters of religion, economics, and politics rather than to a total loyalty to the state. The spirit of democracy is the idea of importance and worth in the individual, and faith in the kind of world where the individual can achieve as much of his potential as possible.”

WorldKindIdeasMatterStatesSpiritIndividualLibertyDemocracyRightsAchieveSpringIdealsEconomicsImportanceElectionMajorityDemocraticProtectionLoyaltyMinoritiesMultipleRules For RadicalsMajority RuleFree ElectionsDemocratic Ideals
Book:Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
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“The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away. In this book we are concerned with how to create mass organizations to seize power and give it to the people; to realize the democratic dream of equality, justice, peace, cooperation, equal and full opportunities for education, full and useful employment, health, and the creation of those circumstances in which man can have the chance to live by values that give meaning to life.”

PeopleMenGivingBookDreamValuesOpportunityRealizingJusticeChanceWrittenCreationCircumstancesEqualMassConcernedOrganizationDemocraticEmploymentRadicalLive ByCooperationMeaning LifeRules For Radicals
Book:Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
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“The seventh rule of the ethics of means and ends is that generally success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics. The judgment of history leans heavily on the outcome of success or failure; it spells the difference between the traitor and the patriotic hero. There can be no such thing as a successful traitor, for if one succeeds he becomes a founding father.”

IfsMeanEndsFatherDifferencesSuccessfulHeroSucceedJudgmentEthicsOutcomesPatrioticSpellsFoundingTraitorSuccess Or FailureRules For Radicals
Book:Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
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“Lest we forget at least an over the shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins - or which is which), the very first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom - Lucifer.”

KnowsMenFirstsForgetKnownMythologyShouldersKingdomsRadicalLegendsEstablishmentLuciferAcknowledgmentRules For RadicalsLest We Forget
Book:Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
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“The human spirit glows from that small inner light of doubt whether we are right, while those who believe with certainty that they possess the right are dark inside and darken the world outside with cruelty, pain, and injustice.”

WorldBelieveHumansLightPainSpiritDarkDoubtInjusticeCrueltyCertaintyHuman SpiritInner LightRules For Radicals
Book:Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
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“Curiosity and irreverence go together. Curiosity cannot exist without the other. Curiosity asks, "Is this true?" "Just because this has always been the way, is the best or right way of life, the best or right religion, political or economic value, morality?" To the questioner, nothing is sacred. He detests dogma, defies any finite definition of morality, rebels against any repression of a free, open search of ideas no matter where they may lead. He is challenging, insulting, agitating, discrediting. He stirs unrest.”

WayMayIdeasMatterTogetherPoliticalValuesAsksChallengesEconomicMoralitySacredCuriosityDefinitionsRebelDogmaRight WayFiniteRepressionInsultingUnrestRules For RadicalsIrreverenceEconomic Value
Author:Saul Alinsky
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“Love and faith are not common companions. More commonly power and fear consort with faith....Power is not to be crossed; one must respect and obey. Power means strength, whereas love is a human frailty the people mistrust. It is a sad fact of life that power and fear are the fountainheads of faith.”

PeopleHumansMeanFactsFearLove IsCommonCompanionFacts Of LifeMistrustFrailtyFountainheadRules For RadicalsFaith And LoveHuman FrailtiesPower And Fear
Author:Saul Alinsky
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“Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.”

WorldMeanChangeMovementConflictSocial JusticeAbstractResolutionDisputesVacuumsConflict ResolutionFrictionMediationWin WinRules For Radicals
Book:Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
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“Tactics mean doing what you can with what you have.”

MeanCreativityWords Of WisdomCharityRight ThingJust BeingYou Can Do ItNew BeginningsTacticsDoing GoodSuccess And FailureDoing YouSuccess FailurePositive MotivationPhilanthropicTeddyDoing RightDetermination And SuccessDoing Your BestAchieving SuccessRight ActionFailure In LifeNew Year New BeginningAchieved SuccessInspirational Success FailureRules For RadicalsFailure MotivationalAchievement And SuccessDaring GreatlyInspirational New BeginningNew Day New BeginningNew Life New BeginningInspirational AchievementSocial GoodLife DeterminationMotivational AchievementPhilanthropy InspirationMotivation And ChangeLife Best InspirationalUs Independence DayHard Work And DeterminationNew Beginning LifeShort Inspirational LifeAgree To DisagreePersonal MotivationPast SuccessPositive WorkPositive Thinking MotivationalWorking For A LivingToday Not TomorrowGood SpiritualKeep Positive
Book:Thirteen Tactics for Realistic Radicals: from Rules for Radicals
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“A revolution without a prior reformation would collapse or become a totalitarian tyranny. A reformation means that masses of our people have reached the point of disillusionment with past ways and values. They don't know what will work but they do know that the prevailing system is self-defeating, frustrating, and hopeless. They won't act for change but won't strongly oppose those who do. The time is then ripe for revolution”

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Author:Saul Alinsky
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“An organizer working in and for an open society is in an ideological dilemma to begin with, he does not have a fixed truth - truth to him is relative and changing; everything to him is relative and changing.... To the extent that he is free from the shackles of dogma, he can respond to the realities of the widely different situations.”

DoeDifferentRealitySituationFixedRelativeDogmaDilemmaIdeologicalShacklesOrganizerRules For RadicalsChanging Everything
Author:Saul Alinsky
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“A Marxist begins with his prime truth that all evils are caused by the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalists. From this he logically proceeds to the revolution to end capitalism, then into the third stage of reorganization into a new social order of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and finally the last stage -- the political paradise of communism.”

EndsLastsPoliticalOrderEvilSocialStageRevolutionCapitalismThirdsCommunismParadisePrimeCapitalistDictatorshipExploitationMarxistProletariatSocial OrderRules For RadicalsReorganization
Book:Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
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“The end is what you want, the means is how you get it. Whenever we think about social change, the question of means and ends arises. The man of action views the issue of means and ends in pragmatic and strategic terms. He has no other problem; he thinks only of his actual resources and the possibilities of various choices of action. He asks of ends only whether they are achievable and worth the cost; of means, only whether they will work. ... The real arena is corrupt and bloody.”

ThinkingMenWantMeanRealEndsProblemActionChoicesAsksSocialTermViewsIssuesPossibilityHe ManCostResourcesVariousWhat You WantAriseBloodyArenaSocial ChangeStrategicPragmaticRules For Radicals
Author:Saul Alinsky
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“From the moment the organizer enters a community he lives, dreams... only one thing and that is to build the mass power base of what he calls the army. Until he has developed that mass power base, he confronts no major issues.... Until he has those means and power instruments, his tactics are very different from power tactics. Therefore, every move revolves around one central point: how many recruits will this bring into the organization, whether by means of local organizations, churches, service groups, labor Unions, corner gangs, or as individuals.”

MeanDifferentMomentsDreamMovingIndividualCommunityChurchIssuesOne ThingGroupsMajorsMassLaborOrganizationArmyInstrumentsUnionsCornersLocalsTacticsGangRecruitOrganizerLabor UnionRules For RadicalsLife DreamLiving The DreamChurch Service
Author:Saul Alinsky
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“The first step in community organization is community disorganization. The disruption of the present organization is the first step toward community organization. Present arrangements must be disorganized if they are to be displace by new patterns.... All change means disorganization of the old and organization of the new.”

IfsFirstsMeanCommunityStepsOrganizationPatternsFirst StepsArrangementsDisruptionRules For RadicalsDisorganizedDisorganization
Author:Saul Alinsky
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