Edgar Z. Friedenberg

Books by Edgar Z. Friedenberg

The vanishing adolescent
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Quotes by Edgar Z. Friedenberg

In a world as empirical as ours, a youngster who does not know what he is good at will not be sure what he is good for.
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So much of learning to be an American is learning not to let your individuality become a nuisance.
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Juvenile delinquency serves many purposes, including that of providing sadistic adults with fantasies suited to their special tastes.
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The atmosphere [in the school lunchroom] is not quite that of a prison, because the students are permitted to talk quietly, under the frowning scrutiny of teachers standing around on duty, during their meal-they are not supposed to talk while standing in line, though this rule is only sporadically enforced.
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No American is prepared to attend his own funeral without the services of highly skilled cosmeticians. Part of the American dream, after all, is to live long and die young.
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Every major industrial society believes it has a serious youth problem.
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The examined life has always been pretty well confined to a privileged class.
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Romance, like alcohol, should be enjoyed but must not be allowed to become necessary.
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Only science can hope to keep technology in some sort of moral order.
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It takes a kind of shabby arrogance to survive in our time, and a fairly romantic nature to want to.
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What we must decide is perhaps how we are valuable rather than how valuable we are.
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Most Americans would say that they disapproved of violence. But what they really mean is that they believe it should be the monopoly of the state.
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Not only do most people accept violence if it is perpetuated by legitimate authority, they also regard violence against certain kinds of people as inherently legitimate, no matter who commits it.
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If a people have no word for something, either it does not matter to them or it matters too much to talk about.
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Adolescents tend to be passionate people, and passion is no less real because it is directed toward a hot-rod, a commercialized popular singer, or the leader of a black-jacketed gang.
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Those who love the young best stay young longest.
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Human life is a continuous thread which each of us spins to his own pattern, rich and complex in meaning. There are no natural knots in it. Yet knots form, nearly always in adolescence.
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