{
  "type": "quote",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/saul-alinsky/rules-for-radicals/in-this-world",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/saul-alinsky/rules-for-radicals/in-this-world.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/saul-alinsky/rules-for-radicals/in-this-world.md",
  "id": "644b18d3-f78f-4034-9ba7-fc3d38ae76ac",
  "slug": "in-this-world",
  "text": "In this world laws are written for the lofty aim of \"the common good\" and then acted out in life on the basis of the common greed. In this world irrationality clings to man like his shadow so that the right things get done for the wrong reasons—afterwards, we dredge up the right reasons for justification. It is a world not of angels but of angles, where men speak of moral principles but act on power principles; a world where we are always moral and our enemies always immoral; a world where \"reconciliation\" means that when one side gets the power and the other side gets reconciled to it, then we have reconciliation.",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "Saul Alinsky",
    "slug": "saul-alinsky",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/saul-alinsky"
  },
  "book": {
    "title": "Rules for Radicals",
    "slug": "rules-for-radicals",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/saul-alinsky/rules-for-radicals"
  },
  "character": null,
  "chapter": null,
  "chapter_parent": null,
  "page": 13,
  "verified": false,
  "original": null,
  "other_languages": [],
  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "power",
      "slug": "power",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power"
    },
    {
      "name": "politics",
      "slug": "politics",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics"
    },
    {
      "name": "hypocrisy",
      "slug": "hypocrisy",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy"
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "name": "Wikiquote",
    "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky#Rules_for_Radicals:_A_Practical_Primer_for_Realistic_Radicals_(1971)",
    "license": {
      "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
    }
  },
  "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:42",
  "more_from_book": [
    {
      "id": "f00f2338-0d40-4fdb-bead-dae440611ad0",
      "slug": "change-comes-from",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/saul-alinsky/rules-for-radicals/change-comes-from",
      "text": "Change comes from power, and power comes from organization. In order to act, people must get together.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 113,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "power",
          "slug": "power",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power"
        },
        {
          "name": "change",
          "slug": "change",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change"
        },
        {
          "name": "cooperation",
          "slug": "cooperation",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cooperation"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky#Rules_for_Radicals:_A_Practical_Primer_for_Realistic_Radicals_(1971)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:42"
    },
    {
      "id": "eb70144e-d0c0-44a6-83bc-a417859c57a7",
      "slug": "to-say-that",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/saul-alinsky/rules-for-radicals/to-say-that",
      "text": "To say that corrupt means corrupt the ends is to believe in the immaculate conception of ends and principles. The real arena is corrupt and bloody. 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.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 24,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "life",
          "slug": "life",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life"
        },
        {
          "name": "corruption",
          "slug": "corruption",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/corruption"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky#Rules_for_Radicals:_A_Practical_Primer_for_Realistic_Radicals_(1971)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:42"
    },
    {
      "id": "bdd03cc9-4330-4c7d-847b-c7d566ca60bb",
      "slug": "always-remember-the",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/saul-alinsky/rules-for-radicals/always-remember-the",
      "text": "Always remember the first rule of power tactics: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have. The second rule is: Never go outside the experience of your people. When an action or tactic is outside the experience of the people, it results in confusion, fear, and retreat. [...] The third rule is: Whenever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 126,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "power",
          "slug": "power",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky#Rules_for_Radicals:_A_Practical_Primer_for_Realistic_Radicals_(1971)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:42"
    }
  ]
}