Saul D. Alinsky: Mean

Saul D. Alinsky was American community organizer and writer. Explore interesting quotes on mean.
Saul D. Alinsky: 56   quotes 0   likes

“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 D. Alinsky

Source: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971), p. 21

World , Change

“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, then we have reconciliation.”

Saul D. Alinsky

Source: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971), p. 13

Life , Men , World , Law

“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.”

Saul D. Alinsky

Source: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971), p. 3

Life , People , Health , Books

“The ninth rule of the ethics of means and ends is that any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition as being unethical.”

Saul D. Alinsky

Source: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971), p. 35

“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.”

Saul D. Alinsky

Source: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971), p. 34

History , Failure , Success

“The end is what you want and the means is how you get it.”

Saul D. Alinsky

Source: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971), p. 24

“To say that corrupt means corrupt the ends is to believe in the immaculate conception of ends and principles. The real arena is corrupt and bloody. 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 D. Alinsky

Source: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971), p. 24–25

Life , Fear , Learning , Time

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

Saul D. Alinsky

Source: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971), p. 26