
“If you want to change the system, change the system. It's no good shooting people.”
Playboy interview (1980)
The Poverty of Philosophy
Albums, Revolutionary Vol. 1 (2001)
“If you want to change the system, change the system. It's no good shooting people.”
Playboy interview (1980)
Toward an Activist Spirituality (2003)
Context: Systems don't change easily. Systems try to maintain themselves, and seek equilibrium. To change a system, you need to shake it up, disrupt the equilibrium. That often requires conflict.
To me, conflict is a deeply spiritual place. It's the high-energy place where power meets power, where change and transformation can occur.
“But that's the challenge -- to change the system more than it changes you.”
Source: The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
“As one individual changes, the system changes.”
Source: A methodology for systems engineering, 1962, p. 61 cited in: Clute, Whitehead & Reid (1967) Progressive architecture. Vol.48, Nr. 7-9. p. 106
“If you like the system as it is, I’m not your guy… If you want a shot at changing it, join me.”
As quoted in Why Angus King is the most important Senate candidate in the country" by Aaron Blake in The Washington Post (6 March 2012) http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/why-angus-king-is-the-most-important-senate-candidate-in-the-country/2012/03/06/gIQANf7DvR_blog.html
“One's got to change the system, or one changes nothing.”
Source: Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936), Ch. 10