Who said “Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.”?

Verified

Saul Alinsky. A published source records them saying or writing it.

SourceRules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971)

Find Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals on Amazon · paid link

Evidence: Wikiquote · How we check

Source checked · Something wrong? Report a correction

Authors A–Z
“Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.”
— Saul Alinsky
VerifiedRules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971) · evidencePower

Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971).

APA

Alinsky, S. (n.d.). Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/1011-power-is-not-only-what-you-have-but/

MLA

Alinsky, Saul. “Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/1011-power-is-not-only-what-you-have-but/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Alinsky, Saul. “Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/1011-power-is-not-only-what-you-have-but/.

Related quotes

“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
VerifiedLetter to Henry L. Sprague (26 January 1900); this is the first known use of this phrase, which became a signature motto of Roosevelt's after he used it in a speech as vice president at the Minnesota State Fair · evidenceDetails & citePower

More quotes by Saul Alinsky

“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.”
VerifiedRules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971) · evidenceDetails & citeCorruption
“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.”
VerifiedRules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971) · evidenceDetails & citeChange
“The greatest enemy of individual freedom is the individual himself.”
Individuality
“Quotes from Mao, Castro, and Che Guevara... are as germane to our highly technological, computerized society as a stagecoach on a jet runway at Kennedy airport.”
Quotations
All 5 Saul Alinsky quotes →