"My generation has a giddy delight in dissolution. [...] To inspire the unsophisticated young to demand "change" is an easy and a cheap trick — it wa… - David Mamet

"My generation has a giddy delight in dissolution. [...] To inspire the
unsophisticated young to demand "change" is an easy and a cheap trick — it was the tactic of the Communist Internationale in the thirties, another "movement.[...] We were self-taught in the sixties to award ourselves merit for membership in a superior group–irrespective of our
group’s accomplishments. We continue to do so, irrespective of accomplishments, individual or communal, having told each other we were special. We learned that all one need do is refrain from trusting
anybody over thirty; that all people are alike, and to judge their behavior was “judgmental”; that property is theft. As we did not investigate these assertions or their implications, we could not act
upon them and felt no need to do so. For we were the culmination of history, superior to all those misguided who had come before, which is to say all humanity. Though we had never met a payroll, fought for an education, obsessed about the rent, raised a child, carried a weapon for our country, or searched for work. Though we had never been in sufficient distress to call upon God, we indicted those who had. And continue to do so.

David Mamet
The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture
English
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About David Mamet

David Alan Mamet (born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director, director, poet, essayist and novelist.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Alternative Names: David Alen Mamet David Alan Mamet
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Shorter versions of this quote

We were taught in the sixties to award ourselves merit for membership in a superior group — irrespective of our group’s accomplishments. We continue to do so, irrespective of accomplishments, individual or communal, having told each other we were special. We learned that all one need do is refrain from trusting anybody over thirty — we were the culmination of history, superior to all those misguided who had come before, which is to say all humanity.

Additional quotes by David Mamet

Then I'm over the fucking top and you owe me a Cadillac. And I don't want any fucking shit and I don't give a shit.

Anybody that talks to this asshole is a fuckin' asshole.

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"Well, there are those who would say it’s a form of aggression."
"What is?"
"A surprise."

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