“But there are none so frightened, or so strange in their fear, as conquerors. They conjure phantoms endlessly, terrified that their victims will someday do back what was done to them—even if, in truth, their victims couldn’t care less about such pettiness and have moved on. Conquerors live in dread of the day when they are shown to be, not superior, but simply lucky.”
― The Stone Sky
― The Stone Sky
“There are several reasons, and the way in which the terms “movement” and “organization” are understood by Alinskyites connects to some defining aspects of their model. For Ed Chambers, Alinsky’s successor as IAF director, an aversion to movements is a part of his long-term commitment to community members. As he writes in his book Roots for Radicals, “We play to win. That’s one of the distinctive features of the IAF: We don’t lead everyday, ordinary people into public failures, and we’re not building movements. Movements go in and out of existence. As good as they are, you can’t sustain them. Everyday people need incremental success over months and sometimes years.”11”
― This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century
― This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century
“I do not mean to be sentimental about suffering—enough is certainly as good as a feast—but people who cannot suffer can never grow up, can never discover who they are.”
― The Fire Next Time
― The Fire Next Time
“White Americans do not understand the depths out of which such an ironic tenacity comes, but they suspect that the force is sensual, and they are terrified of sensuality and do not any longer understand it. The word “sensual” is not intended to bring to mind quivering dusky maidens or priapic black studs. I am referring to something much simpler and much less fanciful. To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the breaking of bread. It will be a great day for America, incidentally, when we begin to eat bread again, instead of the blasphemous and tasteless foam rubber that we have substituted for it.”
― The Fire Next Time
― The Fire Next Time
“death is not the opposite of life, but the opposite of choice. Death is what you get when there are no choices left to make.”
― The Tawny Man Trilogy 3-Book Bundle: Fool's Errand, Golden Fool, Fool's Fate
― The Tawny Man Trilogy 3-Book Bundle: Fool's Errand, Golden Fool, Fool's Fate
Spencer’s 2025 Year in Books
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