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.
Liberalism is a religion. Its tenets cannot be proved, its capacity for waste and destruction demonstrated. But it affords a feeling of spiritual rectitude at little or no cost.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that liberalism operates on faith rather than provable principles, offering a sense of moral superiority without significant sacrifice.
David Mamet's quote critiques liberalism, characterizing it as a belief system akin to a religion. He argues that its core beliefs cannot be empirically validated, and the consequences of its implementation are often negative. However, he notes that it provides adherents with a sense of moral correctness and personal righteousness at minimal expense, presenting a paradox in which individuals may blindly follow a movement that lacks substantive evidence.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a political debate to highlight the challenges of liberal ideologies.
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.
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.
Every reiteration of the idea that nothing matters debases the human spirit.
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If you go searching for the Great Creator, you will come back empty-handed. The source of the universe is ultimately unknowable, a great invisible river flowing forever through a vast and fertile valley. Silent and uncreated, it creates all things.
Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
Mankind censure injustice fearing that they may be the victims of it, and not because they shrink from committing it.
Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.
It is a rude feeling, because it is natural only to people standing on the lowest level of morality, and expecting from other nations such outrages as they themselves are ready to inflict.
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on.