Saul Alinsky Quotes - Page 3

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I prize my own independence too much. And philosophically, I could never accept any rigid dogma or ideology, whether it's Christianity or Marxism…The greatest crimes in history have been perpetrated by such religious and political and racial fanatics, from the persecutions of the Inquisition on down to Communist purges and Nazi genocide.

Saul Alinsky

Religious, Political, Independence

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The fact that people are poor or discriminated against doesn't necessarily endow them with any special qualities of justice, nobility, charity or compassion.

Saul Alinsky

Compassion, People, Justice

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Do you like people? Most people claim that they like people with, of course, a "few exceptions." When the exceptions are added together it becomes clear that they include a vast majority of the people. It becomes equally clear that most people like just a few people, their kind of people, and either do not actively care for or actively dislike most of the "other" people.

Saul Alinsky

People, Together, Care

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The only nonpartisan people are those who are dead.

Saul Alinsky

People

Saul Alinsky (2010). “Reveille for Radicals”, p.20, Vintage

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Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.

Saul Alinsky

Enemy, Rules For Radicals, Expertise

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Tactics mean doing what you can with what you have.

Saul Alinsky

Mean, Creativity, New Beginnings

Saul Alinsky (2016). “Thirteen Tactics for Realistic Radicals: from Rules for Radicals”, p.5, Vintage

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America's corporations are a spiritual slum, and their arrogance is the major threat to our future as a free society.

Saul Alinsky

Spiritual, America, Arrogance

Saul Alinsky (2010). “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals”, p.183, Vintage

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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.

Saul Alinsky

Reality, Doe, Different

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Those who are most moral are farthest from the problem.

Saul Alinsky

Moral, Problem

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The most unethical of all means is the non-use of any means.

Saul Alinsky

Mean, Use, Rules For Radicals

Saul Alinsky (2010). “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals”, p.26, Vintage

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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.

Saul Alinsky

Mean, Angel, Men

"Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals". Book by Saul Alinsky, p. 13, archive.org. 1971.

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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.

Saul Alinsky

Dream, Moving, Mean

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The classic statement on polarization comes from Christ: 'He that is not with me is against me.' (Luke 11:23) He allowed no middle ground to the moneychangers in the Temple. One acts decisively only in the conviction that all the angels are on one side and all the devils on the other.

Saul Alinsky

Angel, Devil, Sides

Saul Alinsky (2016). “Thirteen Tactics for Realistic Radicals: from Rules for Radicals”, p.10, Vintage

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It is a sad fact of life that power and fear are the fountainheads of faith.

Saul Alinsky

Facts, Fountainhead, Rules For Radicals

Saul Alinsky (2010). “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals”, p.99, Vintage

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Once you accept your own death, all of a sudden you're free to live. You no longer care about your reputation. You no longer care except so far as your life can be used tactically to promote a cause you believe in.

Saul Alinsky

Death, Grief, Believe

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Life is an adventure of passion, risk, danger, laughter, beauty, love; a burning curiosity to go with the action to see what it is all about, to go search for a pattern of meaning, to burn one's bridges because you're never going to go back anyway, and to live to the end.

Saul Alinsky

Laughter, Passion, Adventure

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The practical revolutionary will understand Goethe's 'conscience is the virtue of observers and not of agents of action'; in action, one does not always enjoy the luxury of a decision that is consistent both with one's individual conscience and the good of mankind.

Saul Alinsky

Luxury, Decision, Doe

Saul Alinsky (2010). “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals”, p.25, Vintage

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Dogma, Whatever Form It Takes, Is The Ultimate Enemy Of Human Freedom.

Saul Alinsky

Enemy, Dogma, Form

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Life is a corrupting process from the time a child learns to play his mother off against his father in the politics of when to go to bed; he who fears corruption fears life.

Saul Alinsky

Life, Mother, Children

"Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals" by Saul Alinsky, (pp. 24-25), 1971.

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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

Saul Alinsky

Mean, Past, Self

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Radicals, on the other hand, want to advance from the jungle of laissez-faire capitalism to a world worthy of the name of human civilization. They hope for a future where the means of economic production will be owned by all of the people instead of just a comparative handful. They feel that this minority control of production facilities is injurious to the large masses of people not only because of economic monopolies but because the political power inherent in this form of centralized economy does not augur for an ever expanding democratic way of life.

Saul Alinsky

Mean, Hands, Civilization

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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.

Saul Alinsky

Law, Greed, World

Saul Alinsky (2010). “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals”, p.13, Vintage

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Change means movement. Movement means friction.

Saul Alinsky

Change, Mean, Vacuums

Saul Alinsky (2010). “Reveille for Radicals”, p.224, Vintage

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Never do for someone what they can do for themselves.

Saul Alinsky

Can Do

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Radicals must be resilient, adaptable to shifting political circumstances, and sensitive enough to the process of action and reaction to avoid being trapped by their own tactics and forced to travel a road not of their choosing.

Saul Alinsky

Political, Tactics, Shifting

Saul Alinsky (2010). “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals”, p.6, Vintage

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Born: January 30, 1909
Died: June 12, 1972
Occupation: Writer
Cite this Page: Citation

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