Paul

“A bit of a blurred vision of a better world. Much of an organizer’s daily work is detail, repetitive and deadly in its monotony. In the totality of things he is engaged in one small bit. It is as though as an artist he is painting a tiny leaf. It is inevitable that sooner or later he will react with “What am I doing spending my whole life just painting one little leaf? The hell with it, I quit.” What keeps him going is a blurred vision of a great mural where other artists—organizers—are painting their bits, and each piece is essential to the total.”
― Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals

“Use convention to govern a state, use surprise in waging war, use disinterest to take the world. How do I know this is so? When there are many taboos in the world, the people grow poorer and poorer. When the people have many weapons, the nation grows more benighted. When the people are very crafty, weird things arise more and more. The greater the articulation of rules of law, the more brigands and outlaws there are. Therefore a wise rulers says, “If I contrive nothing, the people will naturally be civilized. If I am fond of tranquility, the people will naturally be upright.  If I am disinterested, the people will naturally become rich.  If I want not to want, the people will naturally be innocent.”
― Lao Tzu, The Original Tao Te Ching

“The history of prevailing status quos shows decay and decadence infecting the opulent materialism of the Haves. The spiritual life of the Haves is a ritualistic justification of their possessions.”
― Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals

“one’s concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one’s distance from the scene of conflict.”
― Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals