The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
Saul AlinskyRead
The practical revolutionary will understand Goethe's 'conscience is the virtue of observers and not of agents of action'; in action, one does not always enjoy the luxury of a decision that is consistent both with one's individual conscience and the good of mankind.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the challenge of making ethical decisions in the context of activism and social change.
Saul Alinsky suggests that those engaged in revolutionary actions must recognize that practical decisions often require compromises that may not fully align with one's personal conscience. He reflects on the tension between individual moral beliefs and the broader needs of society, arguing that true action sometimes necessitates difficult choices that go against personal convictions for the greater good.
Themes
ConscienceActionRevolutionEthical DecisionsSociety
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech addressing the moral complexities of activism.
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
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Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream—For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause, there's the respect, That makes calamity of so long life
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True religion, like our founding principles, requires that the rights of the disbeliever be equally acknowledged with those of the believer.
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