The ethical regime [of the Jews] was quite definitely Ptolemaic, revolving around the small group of Jews, not the larger Gentile group-and, accordingly, they learned to remain unimpressed by Gentile temporal power. Being unimpressed did not mean being unafraid-material power might beat or starve one to death; it did mean refusing to surrender moral hegemony to the majority merely because it had power. (David Riesman)

The ethical regime [of the Jews] was quite definitely Ptolemaic, revolving around the small group of Jews, not the larger Gentile group-and, accordingly, they learned to remain unimpressed by Gentile temporal power. Being unimpressed did not mean being unafraid-material power might beat or starve one to death; it did mean refusing to surrender moral hegemony to the majority merely because it had power.

David Riesman

Related topics

beat death ethical gentile hegemony might mean power quite regime remain revolving small temporal

Related quotes

I should dearly love that the world should be ever so little better for my presence. Even on this small stage we have our two sides, and something might be done by throwing all one's weight on the scale of breadth, tolerance, charity, temperance, peace, and kindliness to man and beast. We can't all strike very big blows, and even the little ones count for something. View quote
Arthur Conan Doyle
Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear. View quote
Aung San Suu Kyi
The public has lost the habit of movie-going because the cinema no longer possesses the charm, the hypnotic charisma, the authority it once commanded. The image it once held for us all - that of a dream we dreamt with our eyes open - has disappeared. Is it still possible that one thousand people might group together in the dark and experience the dream that a single individual has directed. View quote
Federico Fellini
Reporter: How many people who labor in the same musical vineyard in which you toil - how many are protest singers? That is, people who use their music, and use the songs to protest the, uh, social state in which we live today: the matter of war, the matter of crime, or whatever it might be. Bob Dylan: Uh, I think there's about, uh...136. Reporter: You say about 136, or you mean exactly 136? Bob Dylan: Uh, it's either 136 or 142. View quote
Bob Dylan
Our treatment of both older people and children reflects the value we place on independence and autonomy. We do our best to make our children independent from birth. We leave them all alone in rooms with the lights out and tell them, ''Go to sleep by yourselves.'' And the old people we respect most are the ones who will fight for their independence, who would sooner starve to death than ask for help. View quote
Margaret Mead