Always remember the first rule of power tactics; power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
Meaning of the quote
Power is not just about what you actually have, but also about what others think you have. If your enemy believes you have more power than you really do, they may be less likely to challenge you. This means you can sometimes get away with less power than you think you need, as long as your opponent believes you have a lot of power. It's all about how others see your strength, not just how strong you really are.
About Saul Alinsky
Saul Alinsky was an influential American community activist and political theorist. He helped poor communities organize and fight for social justice, with his 1971 book ‘Rules for Radicals’ becoming a guide for activists. In recent decades, Alinsky’s ideas have been both praised and criticized across the political spectrum.
More quotes from Saul Alinsky
Last guys don’t finish nice.
American community organizer and writer
A racially integrated community is a chronological term timed from the entrance of the first black family to the exit of the last white family.
American community organizer and writer
Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
American community organizer and writer
Once you accept your own death, all of a sudden you’re free to live. You no longer care about your reputation. You no longer care except so far as your life can be used tactically to promote a cause you believe in.
American community organizer and writer
Life is a corrupting process from the time a child learns to play his mother off against his father in the politics of when to go to bed; he who fears corruption fears life.
American community organizer and writer
We must believe that it is the darkest before the dawn of a beautiful new world. We will see it when we believe it.
American community organizer and writer
History is a relay of revolutions.
American community organizer and writer
Tactics mean doing what you can with what you have.
American community organizer and writer
Always remember the first rule of power tactics; power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
American community organizer and writer
Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.
American community organizer and writer
The greatest enemy of individual freedom is the individual himself.
American community organizer and writer