The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
Saul AlinskyRead
Do one of three things. One, go find a wailing wall and feel sorry for yourselves. Two, go psycho and start bombing - but this will only swing people to the right. Three, learn a lesson. Go home, organize, build power and at the next convention, you be the delegates.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of constructive action in the face of challenges rather than succumbing to despair or violence.
Saul Alinsky's quote highlights the choices individuals have when faced with adversity and dissatisfaction. Instead of wallowing in self-pity or resorting to destructive means, he advocates for learning from the situation, organizing collective efforts, and working towards empowerment. This perspective encourages active engagement and constructive change, suggesting that individuals have the agency to influence their circumstances positively through organization and action.
Themes
ChangeActionPowerOrganizationAdversity
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote in a motivational speech to inspire community organizing.
More from Saul Alinsky
All quotes →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 AlinskyRead
The second rule is: Never go outside the experience of your people. When an action is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear, and retreat.
Saul AlinskyRead
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 AlinskyRead
The threat is generally more terrifying than the thing itself.
Saul AlinskyRead
Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.
Saul AlinskyRead
Similar quotes
What we know from lab studies is that it's never too late to break a habit. Habits are malleable throughout your entire life. But we also know that the best way to change a habit is to understand its structure - that once you tell people about the cue and the reward and you force them to recognize what those factors are in a behavior, it becomes much, much easier to change.
Charles DuhiggRead
You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future.
Thomas SankaraRead
Peaceful, lawful protest - if it is effective - IS innately disruptive of “business as usual.” That is WHY it is effective.
Naomi WolfRead
You can't change the world; you can't fix the whole environment. But you can recycle. You can turn the water off when you're brushing your teeth. You can do small things.
Patti SmithRead
As important as it is to change the light bulbs, its more important to change the laws
Al GoreRead
As soon as my trial was over, we tried to use the energy that had developed around my case to create another organization, which we called the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression.
Angela DavisRead