Rules For Radicals Quotes

• Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Inspirational, Motivational, Success

  Theodore Roosevelt (2006). “The Works of Theodore Roosevelt - Volume”, p.17, Cosimo, Inc.

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• The job of the organizer is to maneuver and bait the establishment so that it will publicly attack him as a “dangerous enemy.

  Saul

  Jobs, Enemy, Bait

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• Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)

  Saul Alinsky

  Hurt, Cutting, People

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• The organizers first job is to create the issues or problems, and organizations must be based on many issues. The organizer must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression. He must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them, for unless there is controversy people are not concerned enough to act. . . . An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent.

  Saul Alinsky

  Jobs, Expression, Organization

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• 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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• The thirteenth rule of radical tactics: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

  Saul Alinsky

  Target, Tactics, Radical

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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.

  Saul Alinsky

  Change, Mean, Vacuums

  Saul Alinsky (2010). “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals”, p.21, Vintage

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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.

  Saul Alinsky

  Order, Evil, Political

  Saul Alinsky (2010). “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals”, p.10, Vintage

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• True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism. They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within.

  Saul Alinsky

  Cutting, Hair, Radicalism

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.

  Saul

  Men, Weapons, Ridicule

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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.

  Saul Alinsky

  Mean, Organization, Community

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• In the beginning the organizer's first job is to create the issues or problems.

  Saul Alinsky

  Jobs, Issues, Firsts

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• 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.

  Saul Alinsky

  Men, Devil, Kingdoms

  Saul Alinsky (2010). “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals”, p.9, Vintage

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• Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.

  Saul Alinsky

  Enemy, Expertise

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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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• 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.

  Saul Alinsky

  Men, Firsts, Legends

  Saul Alinsky (2010). “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals”, p.9, Vintage

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• Action comes from keeping the heat on. No politician can sit on a hot issue if you make it hot enough.

  Saul Alinsky

  Issues, Hot, Action

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• It is necessary to begin where the world is if we are going to change it to what we think it should be. That means working in the system.

  Saul

  Mean, Thinking, World

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• Always remember the first rule of power tactics; power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.

  Saul Alinsky

  Power, Thinking, Enemy

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

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• Once you accept your own death, all of a sudden you are free to live.

  Saul Alinsky

  Death, Acceptance, Accepting

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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.

  Saul Alinsky

  Radical, Written

  Saul Alinsky (2010). “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals”, p.3, Vintage

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

  Saul Alinsky

  Mean, Use, Unethical

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

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• As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be. That we accept the world as it is does not in any sense weaken our desire to change it into what we believe it should be - it is necessary to begin where the world is if we are going to change it to what we think it should be.

  Saul Alinsky

  Believe, Mean, Thinking

  "The Best Quotes From Saul Alinsky’s 'Rules For Radicals'" by John Hawkins, rightwingnews.com. May 03, 2010.

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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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• Theres another reason for working inside the system. Dostoevsky said that taking a new step is what people fear most. Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future. This acceptance is the reformation essential to any revolution.

  Saul Alinsky

  Letting Go, Attitude, Acceptance

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