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
Every reiteration of the idea that nothing matters debases the human spirit.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that constant reminders of life's meaninglessness can diminish our spirit and motivation.
David Mamet's quote emphasizes the detrimental effects of nihilistic ideas on the human spirit. When individuals are repeatedly confronted with the notion that nothing has inherent value or significance, it can lead to a sense of despair and a lack of purpose. This underscores the importance of finding meaning and value in life, as dismissing these concepts can undermine our drive and happiness.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of finding personal meaning, one might quote Mamet to highlight the dangers of nihilistic thinking.
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.
My 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.
You know, young actors say all the time, 'Should I use my own life experience?' And my response is, 'What choice do you have?'
It's hard for a Jew of my generation, an American Jew, who is philo-Zionistic, not to romanticize Israel.
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.
The subject of drama is The Lie. At the end of the drama THE TRUTH -- which has been overlooked, disregarded, scorned, and denied -- prevails. And that is how we know the Drama is done.
The cost of a thing is what I call life which has to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.
I don't know why people are so reluctant to say they're feminists. Could it be any more obvious that we still live in a patriarchal world when feminism is a bad word?
Bodily decay is gloomy in prospect, but of all human contemplations the most abhorrent is body without mind.
The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? You may say the wisest thing you can, old man, - you who have lived seventy years, not without honor of a kind, - I hear an irresistible voice which invites me away from all that.
If you're an actor, you tend to fool yourself into thinking you're much younger than you are because you're playing parts and behaving like a child all the time.
We are all familiar with the argument: Make war dreadful enough, and there will be no war. And we none of us believe it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.