--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There can be no darker or more…" description: "\"There can be no darker or more devastating tragedy than the death of man's faith in himself and in his power to direct his future.\" — Saul Alinsky" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a46/saul-alinsky-3048_death_there-can-be-no-darker-or-more-devastati_2985857.png" --- # There can be no darker or more devastating tragedy than… ![“There can be no darker or more devastating tragedy than the death of man's faith in himself and in his power to direct his future.” quote by Saul Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a46/saul-alinsky-3048_death_there-can-be-no-darker-or-more-devastati_2985857.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a46/saul-alinsky-3048_death_there-can-be-no-darker-or-more-devastati_2985857.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a46/saul-alinsky-3048_death_there-can-be-no-darker-or-more-devastati_2985857.png) > “There can be no darker or more devastating tragedy than the death of man's faith in himself and in his power to direct his future.” [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. Losing belief in one’s own agency leads to profound despair and helplessness. **In simple terms:** Faith in self is essential. Key Takeaway Cultivate self‑trust and agency. Themes self‑belief despair agency future Mood reflective serious Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career planning - personal crises - leadership decisions - mental health recovery Key Concepts existentialism psychology empowerment Questions to Reflect On - How do you rebuild confidence after failure? - What habits sustain personal agency? A Different Perspective Self‑belief can be undermined by external oppression. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Darker Devastating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darker-devastating-4667128/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Devastating Tragedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/devastating-tragedy-4667127/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future/) [Man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man/) [Man Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-faith/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Tragedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tragedy/) [Tragedy Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tragedy-death-730278/) ## Related quotes > [The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-stalin/the-death-of-one-man-is-a-tragedy-the-death-of-millions-is-a-statistic/) [Joseph Stalin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-stalin/) > [The death of one is a tragedy, but death of a million is just a statistic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-manson/the-death-of-one-is-a-tragedy-but-death-of-a-million-is-just-a/) [Marilyn Manson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-manson/) > [“The tragedy of her death was not that it made one, now and then and very intensely, unhappy. It was that it made her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-tragedy-of-her-death-was-not-that-it-made-one-now-and-then-and/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“There’s exactly one difference between an adventure and a tragedy: death.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-gettleman/there-s-exactly-one-difference-between-an-adventure-and-a-tragedy/) [Jeffrey Gettleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-gettleman/) > [The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-warren/the-greatest-tragedy-is-not-death-but-life-without-purpose/) [Rick Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-warren/) > [“Death is a tragedy whether it is the death of one girl-woman in London or seventy-seven men, women, and children in Norway. We know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/death-is-a-tragedy-whether-it-is-the-death-of-one-girl-woman-in/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [I'm a strong man of faith.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darryl-glenn/i-m-a-strong-man-of-faith/) [Darryl Glenn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darryl-glenn/) > [Doubting does not prove that a man has no faith, but only that his faith is small. And even when our faith is small,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-c-ryle/doubting-does-not-prove-that-a-man-has-no-faith-but-only-that-his/) [J. C. Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-c-ryle/) > [Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable… A man full of faith is simply one who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/faith-may-be-defined-briefly-as-an-illogical-belief-in-the-occurrence/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The easiest way to destroy a man's faith is to destroy his morality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melvin-j-ballard/the-easiest-way-to-destroy-a-man-s-faith-is-to-destroy-his-morality/) [Melvin J. Ballard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melvin-j-ballard/) > [To the man of faith, there is not a thing that is not opportunity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/smith-wigglesworth/to-the-man-of-faith-there-is-not-a-thing-that-is-not-opportunity/) [Smith Wigglesworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/smith-wigglesworth/) > [“Man's faith is his fortune.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/man-s-faith-is-his-fortune/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“A man has to have something he can put faith in.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-maria-remarque/a-man-has-to-have-something-he-can-put-faith-in/) [Erich Maria Remarque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-maria-remarque/) > [There is nothing which so certifies the genuineness of a man's faith as his patience and his patient endurance, his keeping on steadily in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-is-nothing-which-so-certifies-the-genuineness-of-a-man-s-faith/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Here is a fundamental difference between the man of faith and the man of unbelief. The unbeliever is 'of the world', judges everything by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-w-pink/here-is-a-fundamental-difference-between-the-man-of-faith-and-the-man/) [Arthur W. Pink](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-w-pink/) ## 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 Death quotes > [“He wondered how it was fair that your dying should depend so much on when you were born.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/he-wondered-how-it-was-fair-that-your-dying-should-depend-so-much-on/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Most of us are convinced that we are our egos, which is who we think we are. The ego is part of our incarnation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-dass/most-of-us-are-convinced-that-we-are-our-egos-which-is-who-we-think/) [Ram Dass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-dass/) > [I do not want to live at the cost of the life even of a snake. I should let him bite me to death…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-do-not-want-to-live-at-the-cost-of-the-life-even-of-a-snake-i/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [“It was beautiful. He thought he had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life; that, having seen it, he could die content,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mira-grant/it-was-beautiful-he-thought-he-had-never-seen-anything-so-beautiful/) [Mira Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mira-grant/) > [Retirement? You're talking about death, right?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-altman/retirement-you-re-talking-about-death-right/) [Robert Altman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-altman/) > [With multiplayer, permanent death, and an ever-changing world to explore and conquer, 'A Valley Without Wind' might be the place you're looking for if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-manuel/with-multiplayer-permanent-death-and-an-ever-changing-world-to/) [Rob Manuel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-manuel/) > [“What did you see?” she asked gently. His brow furrowed, as if he could not understand the question. Then his eyes turned to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-anthony-torino/what-did-you-see-she-asked-gently-his-brow-furrowed-as-if-he-could/) [J. Anthony Torino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-anthony-torino/) > [Those whose life is long still strive for gain, and for all mortals all things take second place to money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/those-whose-life-is-long-still-strive-for-gain-and-for-all-mortals/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) > [“I practice Dying--every night-- But have not learned to, still-- Though Talented--by Mortal bones-- For such a common Skill.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-w-powers/i-practice-dying-every-night-but-have-not-learned-to-still-though/) [Alan W. Powers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-w-powers/) > [“You must understand the pain and grief of losing someone is nothing more than a function of survival.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-cooper/you-must-understand-the-pain-and-grief-of-losing-someone-is-nothing/) [Steven Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-cooper/) > [I am not a depressive person at all, but I reflect a lot on my life, and life in general, from the perspective of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/i-am-not-a-depressive-person-at-all-but-i-reflect-a-lot-on-my-life/) [Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/) > [“Death is a reality that calls the rest of life and all of our assorted strivings into sharp relief.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/death-is-a-reality-that-calls-the-rest-of-life-and-all-of-our/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [I love life. I love life to death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmanuelle-riva/i-love-life-i-love-life-to-death/) [Emmanuelle Riva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmanuelle-riva/) > [I think when you’re dying you start looking for important things in the corners. You can’t let anything that seems even semi-important pass, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-crutcher/i-think-when-you-re-dying-you-start-looking-for-important-things-in/) [Chris Crutcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-crutcher/) [Browse all 39,127 Death quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There can be no darker or more devastating tragedy than the death of man's faith in himself and in his power to direct his future.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Saul Alinsky" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/there-can-be-no-darker-or-more-devastating-tragedy-than-the-death-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Death" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/there-can-be-no-darker-or-more-devastating-tragedy-than-the-death-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a46/saul-alinsky-3048_death_there-can-be-no-darker-or-more-devastati_2985857.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a46/saul-alinsky-3048_death_there-can-be-no-darker-or-more-devastati_2985857.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a46/saul-alinsky-3048_death_there-can-be-no-darker-or-more-devastati_2985857.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There can be no darker or more devastating tragedy than the death of man's faith in himself and in his power…” — 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": "There can be no darker or...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/there-can-be-no-darker-or-more-devastating-tragedy-than-the-death-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-alinsky/there-can-be-no-darker-or-more-devastating-tragedy-than-the-death-of/#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 } } ] } ```