Quote

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

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Saul Alinsky
Age: 63 †
Born: 1909
Born: January 30
Died: 1972
Died: June 12
Activist
Human Rights Activist
Sociologist
Trade Unionist
Writer
Chicago
Illinois
Saul David Alinsky
Doe
Begin
Realities
Everything
Open
Dogma
Different
Situation
Relative
Working
Respond
Organizer
Society
Situations
Shackles
Free
Extent
Dilemma
Reality
Fixed
Widely
Truth
Changing
Ideological

More quotes by Saul Alinsky

Image
In a fight almost anything goes. It almost reaches the point where you stop to apologize if a chance blow lands above the belt.
Saul Alinsky
Image
The prerequisite for an ideology is possession of a basic truth.
Saul Alinsky
Image
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
Image
History is a relay of revolutions.
Saul Alinsky
Image
Always remember the first rule of power tactics power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
Saul Alinsky
Image
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
Image
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
Image
Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.
Saul Alinsky
Image
Democracy is alive, and like any other living thing it either flourishes and grows or withers and dies. There is no in-between. It is freedom and life or dictatorship and death.
Saul Alinsky
Image
Dogma, Whatever Form It Takes, Is The Ultimate Enemy Of Human Freedom.
Saul Alinsky
Image
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
Image
Humor is essential to a successful tactician, for the most potent weapons known to mankind are satire and ridicule.
Saul Alinsky
Image
A racially integrated community is a chronological term timed from the entrance of the first black family to the exit of the last white family.
Saul Alinsky
Image
Liberals like people with their heads, radicals like people with both their heads and their hearts.
Saul Alinsky
Image
No issue can be negotiated unless you first have the clout to compel negotiation.
Saul Alinsky
Image
The only people who become disillusioned are people who have illusions.
Saul Alinsky
Image
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
Image
The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
Saul Alinsky
Image
A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.
Saul Alinsky
Image
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