Quotation for Sanhedrin 215:22

דרש ר' יוסי דמן קסרי מאי דכתיב (איוב כד, יח) קל הוא על פני מים תקולל חלקתם בארץ מלמד שהיה נח הצדיק מוכיח בהם ואומר להם עשו תשובה ואם לאו הקב"ה מביא עליכם את המבול ומקפה נבלתכם על המים כזיקין שנאמר קל הוא על פני מים ולא עוד אלא שלוקחין מהם קללה לכל באי עולם שנאמר (איוב כד, יח) תקולל חלקתם בארץ

These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations.43 R. Johanan said: In his generations, but not in other generations. Resh Lakish maintained: [Even] in his generations — how much more so in other generations. R. Hanina said: As an illustration of R. Johanan's view, to what may this be compared? To a barrel of wine lying in a vault of acid: in its place, its odour is fragrant [by comparison with the acid]; elsewhere, its odour will not be fragrant.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So Noah: by comparison with the rest of his generation, who were exceptionally wicked, he stood out as a righteous man; in other generations he would not have been superior to the average person. ');">44

Rashi on Genesis

בדורותיו IN HIS GENERATIONS — Some of our Rabbis explain it (this word) to his credit: he was righteous even in his generation; it follows that had he lived in a generation of righteous people he would have been even more righteous owing to the force of good example. Others, however, explain it to his discredit: in comparison with his own generation he was accounted righteous, but had he lived in the generation of Abraham he would have been accounted as of no importance (cf. Sanhedrin 108a).

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