They say you can't study Kabbalah until you are at least 40 years old. You know why? You have to have experienced at least one generation making the same mistakes as the previous one.
David MametRead
I look back upon my Liberal political beliefs with a sort of wonder - as another exercise in self-involvement - rewarding myself for some superiority I could not logically describe.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the nature of personal beliefs and the contradictions inherent in them.
David Mamet's quote critiques the tendency to engage in self-congratulatory beliefs, particularly in the realm of political ideology. He suggests that his past adherence to Liberal political views was less about genuine conviction and more about fulfilling a need for self-importance, highlighting the dissonance between belief and reason.
Themes
PoliticsBeliefsSelf-ImportanceHypocrisyConviction
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate or discussion about personal beliefs, this quote can illustrate the complexity of true conviction.
More from David Mamet
All quotes βMy alma mater is the Chicago Public Library. I got what little educational foundation I got in the third-floor reading room, under the tutelage of a Coca-Cola sign.
David MametRead
You know, young actors say all the time, 'Should I use my own life experience?' And my response is, 'What choice do you have?'
David MametRead
It's hard for a Jew of my generation, an American Jew, who is philo-Zionistic, not to romanticize Israel.
David MametRead
You can't write about history without writing about politics at some point. History is about movements of people. 'What is criminality and what is government' is a theme that runs through every history.
David MametRead
Every reiteration of the idea that nothing matters debases the human spirit.
David MametRead
Similar quotes
What a host of little incidents, all deep-buried in the past -- problems that had once been urgent, arguments that had once been keen, anecdotes that were funny only because one remembered the fun. Did any emotion really matter when the last trace of it had vanished from human memory; and if that were so, what a crowd of emotions clung to him as to their last home before annihilation? He must be kind to them, must treasure them in his mind before their long sleep.
James HiltonRead
But when one believes in the reality of things, making them visible by artificial means is not quite the same as feeling that they are close at hand.
Marcel ProustRead
...majority Patriotism is the customary Patriotism.
Mark TwainRead
Why do you keep maintaining your ideas are right if you can't prove them?
Jean-Paul SartreRead
I think when you think of death as being part of the life cycle and recognize that death is an inevitability for our species because the world has to be renewed with each death, then the hope becomes when it is renewed it will be renewed by people on whom I have had some influence for good.
Sherwin B. NulandRead
I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light.
Margaret AtwoodRead