Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Matti Friedman

Quote by Matti Friedman

Work

Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Matti Friedman

Browse famous quotes and profile details for Matti Friedman. more

You May Also Like

“Social media is the supreme triumph of the commonplace, the undiluted voice of the commonplace, the perfect means of viral transmission of the commonplace. All excellence is tracked down and exterminated. The commonplace infects everything. It grows like weeds everywhere and strangles all beautiful, exceptional flowers. All tall poppies are all cut down.”

ExcellenceSocial MediaMediocrityOutsidersPopularityCancel CultureTall Poppies
Book:The Mandarin Effect: The Crisis of Meaning
Create image

“Being an immigrant is not a status but a state of mind. It doesn’t stop when you “assimilate” or “integrate” or when you go from being an “outsider” to an “insider.” It is what you think of yourself. You only really stop being an immigrant when you reject other immigrants and try to slam the door in their faces when they try to emulate you.”

ImmigrantsState Of MindOutsidersIntegrationAssimilationRefugeesInsidersImmigrant ExperienceImmigrantImmigrant State Of Mind
Author:Stewart Stafford
Create image

“...there I was, trying to hold up my end in a city where you can't even buy a decent bagel. I don't mean to make it sound as if it's all about being Jewish, but that's another thing about Washington. It makes you feel really Jewish if that's what you are. It's not just that there are so many Gentiles there; it's that the Gentiles are so Gentile. Listen, even the Jews there are sort of Gentile.”

OutsidersJewsGentilesWashington
Book:Heartburn
Create image

“He’s the type of person who loves the idea of being an outsider because he thinks by not belonging it makes him superior in some way. What he doesn’t get is that the real outsiders would do anything to be on the inside. A real outsider can’t be seen at all. They’re people who look like they belong when inside they know they don’t. They’re people who would do anything to appear normal, while harboring the secret knowledge that they’re anything but normal.”

BelongingOutsiders
Book:The Death of Bees
Create image

“As a committed Christian, I have always struggled with locked doors—doors by which we on the inside lock out "the others"—Jews, Muslims, Mormons, liberals, doubters, agnostics, gay folks, whomever. The more we insiders succeed in shutting others out, the more I tend to feel locked in, caged, trapped.”

BoundariesOutsiders
Book:Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?: Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World
Create image