--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As an organizer I start from where the…" description: "\"As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be.\" — Saul Alinsky" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94a/saul-alinsky-3048_organizer_as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-w_1056176.png" --- # As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is… ![“As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be.” quote by Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94a/saul-alinsky-3048_organizer_as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-w_1056176.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94a/saul-alinsky-3048_organizer_as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-w_1056176.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94a/saul-alinsky-3048_organizer_as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-w_1056176.png) > “As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be.” [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Effective organizing starts with reality as it is, not idealized visions, to create practical change. **In simple terms:** Start from real conditions, not imagined ones. Key Takeaway Ground strategies in current realities. Themes activism pragmatism social change Mood determined pragmatic Type strategic instructional When to use this quote - campaign planning - neighborhood meetings - policy advocacy Key Concepts grassroots policy analysis community assessment Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance ideal goals with real constraints? - What tools help translate reality into action? A Different Perspective Idealism can blind organizers to practical constraints. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be. That we accept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-world-is-as-it-is-not-as-i-2/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be. That we accept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-world-is-as-it-is-not-as-i-3/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [Because it proves that you don't need much to change the entire world for the better. You can start with the most ordinary ingredients.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-ryan-hyde/because-it-proves-that-you-don-t-need-much-to-change-the-entire-world/) [Catherine Ryan Hyde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-ryan-hyde/) > [If you want to make a difference in the world, start with the world around you. Making a big difference all at once is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/if-you-want-to-make-a-difference-in-the-world-start-with-the-world/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [“But where shall I start? The world is so vast, I shall start with the country I know best, my own. But my country…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/but-where-shall-i-start-the-world-is-so-vast-i-shall-start-with-the/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [But where was I to start? The world is so vast, I shall start with the country I knew best, my own. But my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/but-where-was-i-to-start-the-world-is-so-vast-i-shall-start-with-the/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [“The most important thing I can add from my own observations is this: Knowing it started from unremarkable circumstances should be a comfort to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-ryan-hyde/the-most-important-thing-i-can-add-from-my-own-observations-is-this/) [Catherine Ryan Hyde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-ryan-hyde/) > [“Stop aspiring and start being. The world needs you!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/stop-aspiring-and-start-being-the-world-needs-you/) [Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/) > [From the moment an organizer enters a community, he lives, dreams, eats, breathes, sleeps only one thing, and that is to build the mass…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/from-the-moment-an-organizer-enters-a-community-he-lives-dreams-eats/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [The organizers first job is to create the issues or problems, and organizations must be based on many issues. The organizer must first rub…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/the-organizers-first-job-is-to-create-the-issues-or-problems-and/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism. They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/true-revolutionaries-do-not-flaunt-their-radicalism-they-cut-their/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [From the moment the organizer enters a community he lives, dreams... only one thing and that is to build the mass power base of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/from-the-moment-the-organizer-enters-a-community-he-lives-dreams-only/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [An organizer working in and for an open society is in an ideological dilemma to begin with, he does not have a fixed truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/an-organizer-working-in-and-for-an-open-society-is-in-an-ideological/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [The despair is there; now it's up to us to go in and rub raw the sores of discontent, galvanize them for radical social…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/the-despair-is-there-now-it-s-up-to-us-to-go-in-and-rub-raw-the-sores/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [In the beginning the organizer's first job is to create the issues or problems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/in-the-beginning-the-organizer-s-first-job-is-to-create-the-issues-or/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) ## More by Saul Alinsky > [The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/the-threat-is-usually-more-terrifying-than-the-thing-itself/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [The very first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/the-very-first-radical-known-to-man-who-rebelled-against-the/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [I've never joined any organization - not even the ones I've organized myself. I prize my own independence too much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/i-ve-never-joined-any-organization-not-even-the-ones-i-ve-organized/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [Everybody owned stock in the Capone mob; in a way, he was a public benefactor. I remember one time when he arrived at his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/everybody-owned-stock-in-the-capone-mob-in-a-way-he-was-a-public/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [First rule of change is controversy. You can't get away from it for the simple reason all issues are controversial. Change means movement, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/first-rule-of-change-is-controversy-you-can-t-get-away-from-it-for/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [Radicals, on the other hand, want to advance from the jungle of laissez-faire capitalism to a world worthy of the name of human civilization.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/radicals-on-the-other-hand-want-to-advance-from-the-jungle-of-laissez/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/pick-the-target-freeze-it-personalize-it-and-polarize-it-cut-off-the/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [The first step in community organization is community disorganization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/the-first-step-in-community-organization-is-community-disorganization/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [Power just goes to two poles — to those who've got money, and those who've got people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/power-just-goes-to-two-poles-to-those-who-ve-got-money-and-those-who/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [The establishment can accept being screwed, but not being laughed at](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/the-establishment-can-accept-being-screwed-but-not-being-laughed-at/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [To the organizer, compromise is a key and beautiful word. It is always present in the pragmatics of operation... If you start with nothing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/to-the-organizer-compromise-is-a-key-and-beautiful-word-it-is-always/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/power-is-not-only-what-you-have-but-what-the-enemy-thinks-you-have/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [The standards of judgment must be rooted in the whys and wherefores of life as it is lived, the world as it is, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/the-standards-of-judgment-must-be-rooted-in-the-whys-and-wherefores/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [Organized business has assumed that greater profits would be pretty much of a cure-all, and it has to a major extent ignored the fact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/organized-business-has-assumed-that-greater-profits-would-be-pretty/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) > [One acts decisively only in the conviction that all the angels are on one side and all the devils on the other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/one-acts-decisively-only-in-the-conviction-that-all-the-angels-are-on/) [Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) [Explore all 141 Saul Alinsky quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/) ## More Organizer quotes > [All my life I've been involved with racial politics. I was a Freedom Rider in the South. I was the author of books on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hayden/all-my-life-i-ve-been-involved-with-racial-politics-i-was-a-freedom/) [Tom Hayden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hayden/) > [Organizer is kind of a grand term for what I was doing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-paretsky/organizer-is-kind-of-a-grand-term-for-what-i-was-doing/) [Sara Paretsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-paretsky/) > [ I think \[ chief organizer of the Democratic Party \] it's something that I have an interest in. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/i-think-chief-organizer-of-the-democratic-party-it-s-something-that-i/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [A good organizer is key to anyone with a busy social life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-strauss/a-good-organizer-is-key-to-anyone-with-a-busy-social-life/) [Neil Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-strauss/) > [ I'd been arrested many times by then. I'd been an organizer, so many things had changed over those three years \[from 1965 till 1968\]. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-d-been-arrested-many-times-by-then-i-d-been-an-organizer-so-many/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [Keith Ellison is an organizer's organizer.He's one of the only Muslims in Congress, so you have a big statement there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/keith-ellison-is-an-organizer-s-organizer-he-s-one-of-the-only/) [Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/) > [The truth then is, that the Russian Comintern is still confessedly engaged in endeavoring to foment war in order to facilitate revolution, and that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-fahey/the-truth-then-is-that-the-russian-comintern-is-still-confessedly/) [Denis Fahey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-fahey/) > [I knew Hillary Clinton from undergraduate days and was enormously impressed with her. She was a terrific energy and enthusiasm, and a great organizer.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-reich/i-knew-hillary-clinton-from-undergraduate-days-and-was-enormously/) [Robert Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-reich/) > [What first got me involved in politics was being 14, and a youth organizer comes to my house with a van full of 14…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boots-riley/what-first-got-me-involved-in-politics-was-being-14-and-a-youth/) [Boots Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boots-riley/) > [I don't agree with the Black Lives Matter organizers. They are stated as anti-capitalists. And it's much more than just the police to them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-beck/i-don-t-agree-with-the-black-lives-matter-organizers-they-are-stated/) [Glenn Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-beck/) > [America needs a Commander in Chief, not a Global Community Organizer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liz-cheney/america-needs-a-commander-in-chief-not-a-global-community-organizer/) [Liz Cheney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liz-cheney/) > [I'm a big organizer person. I can spend a good three hours on my sock drawer. It's fantastic!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reese-witherspoon/i-m-a-big-organizer-person-i-can-spend-a-good-three-hours-on-my-sock/) [Reese Witherspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reese-witherspoon/) > [The American movement, Tea Party, whatever you want to call it, I think that is a very hopeful moment for the country and, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-ingraham/the-american-movement-tea-party-whatever-you-want-to-call-it-i-think/) [Laura Ingraham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-ingraham/) > [A first-rate organizer is never in a hurry. He is never late. He always keeps up his sleeve a margin for the unexpected.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-bennett/a-first-rate-organizer-is-never-in-a-hurry-he-is-never-late-he-always/) [Arnold Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-bennett/) > [Within two weeks of moving into the White House, Obama signed a series of executive orders championed by union bosses. The new rules authorized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-malkin/within-two-weeks-of-moving-into-the-white-house-obama-signed-a-series/) [Michelle Malkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-malkin/) Browse all 133 Organizer quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Saul Alinsky" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-world-is-as-it-is-not-as-i/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Organizer" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-world-is-as-it-is-not-as-i/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94a/saul-alinsky-3048_organizer_as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-w_1056176.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94a/saul-alinsky-3048_organizer_as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-w_1056176.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94a/saul-alinsky-3048_organizer_as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-w_1056176.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be.” — Saul Alinsky", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Saul Alinsky", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-alinsky/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "As an organizer I start from...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-world-is-as-it-is-not-as-i/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/as-an-organizer-i-start-from-where-the-world-is-as-it-is-not-as-i/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```