“The first book ever written in an alphabet was the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament. And the most important passage was the Ten Commandments. The first commandment is the most revolutionary sentence ever written. It states: "I am the Lord thy God there is no other." The second prohibits us from making images. Thus, there is a profound rejection of any goddess influence and a ban of representative art.” FirstsArtImportantBookStatesLordWrittenInfluenceTenProfoundSentencesRevolutionaryRejectionPassagesGoddessRepresentativesCommandmentsTestamentBansOld TestamentHebrewAlphabetTen CommandmentsHebrew Bible Author:Leonard Shlain
“In every literate society, learning to read is something of an initiation, a ritualized passage out of a state of dependency and rudimentary communication.” StatesCommunicationPassagesDependencyInitiationLearning To Read Book:A History of Reading Source: A History of Reading
“I find it expressed in various passages of Scripture that the fact that God knows things while in a state of possibility, when their existence belongs to the future, does not change the nature of the possible in any way; that nature remains unchanged; and the knowledge of the realisation of one of several possibilities does not yet effect that realisation. This is likewise one of the fundamental principles of the Law of Moses concerning which there is no doubt nor any dispute.” KnowsWayDoeStatesFactsLawExistencePrinciplesDoubtEffectsPossibilityFundamentalsRemainsVariousScriptureNo DoubtPassagesDisputesGod KnowsMosesRealisationFundamental Principles Author:Maimonides
“The ethical life... is maintained in being by a common culture, which also upholds the togetherness of society... Unlike the modern youth culture, a common culture sanctifies the adult state, to which it offers rites of passage.” StatesLife IsCultureCommonModernYouthOffersAdultsEthicalPassagesTogethernessRiteSanctifyYouth CultureRite Of PassageCommon CultureModern Youth Book:Modern Culture Source: Modern Culture
“The developed world should neither shelter nor militarily destabilize authoritarian regimes unless those regimes represent an imminent threat to the national security of other states. Developed states should instead work to create the conditions most favorable for a closed regime's safe passage through the least stable segment of the J curve however and whenever the slide toward instability comes. And developed states should minimize the risk these states pose the rest of the world as their transition toward modernity begins.” WorldShouldStatesRiskConditionsSecuritySafeThreatTransitionPassagesRegimesStableShelterNational SecurityCurvesSlidesModernityInstability Author:Ian Bremmer