Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
Gore Vidal
Related I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES The battle is not physical, it is spiritual and your mind is the battleground. Keep your mind pure a... JEANETTE CORON Empathy is the new measurement of everything. It doesn't matter what religion you have, what God you... C. JOYBELL C. We lived in a classless society. We'd spend a summer at Gore Vidal's house in Italy, but we ... GABY HOFFMANN The Biggest Threat to our Democracy, Freedoms and Future is Leadership that fosters and Appeases the... MICHAEL HARRIS Not," Swift said firmly, "for all the tea in China." "That expression has never made sense to m... LISA KLEYPAS Use your heart. Understand. Learn to see things in the now, not as they were or will be, or as ... E.J. PATTEN The human mind can justify any atrocity, greed, victimization, sin, or crime. All it needs is a litt... TROY J. GAINEY 35. God is entitled to a portion of our income—not because He needs it but because we need to give... JAMES C. DOBSON Integrity is not everything, but it is the only thing that matters. JEFFREY FRY Any idea of separation is bondage. True liberation of the mind is in non-differentiation. And in the... ABHIJIT NASKAR Altered social conditions may remove certain ailments and deformities in existing society. But the n... ELLEN KEY PEACE IS THE OBJECTIVE TO WAR, BUT THE BLOOD RUNNETH STILL NATALIE URQUIETA We are tainted by modern philosophy which has taught us that all is good, whereas evil has polluted ... JOSEPH DE MAISTRE A new day is here! yesterday is gone! tomorrow is preparing to come! but why is today here? ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH My government continues to support all efforts to seek a peaceful, diplomatic solution even as we en... GREGG SCHULTE This kind of overall way of thinking is not only a fertile source of new theoretical ideas: it is ne... DAVID BOHM We must strive to encourage East and West not only to move towards each other but also to encourage ... NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV As I enter a new phase of life and my circle broadens, I start learning new things. KAPIL DEV India is poised today to enter a new phase in its foreign policy. We aspire to be a permanent member... SHYAM SARAN Our editors awarded Resident Evil 4 with our top honors in December, and it seems our audience could... GREG KASAVIN Wake up to a brand new day and realize why you woke up to meet the day! Live to the end of another d... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Writers since at least the heyday of Gore Vidal have bemoaned their audience's defection to othe... GARTH RISK HALLBERG Sometimes, how others look at it must not be how you should see it! Sometimes, how it means to other... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Commemoration of Wilson Carlile, Priest, Founder of the Church Army, 1942 There is a great diffe... FRANÇOIS FÉNELON ... nothing can be perfectly granted to be the best!no perfect, no best! you
know why?...we are j... APPLES ROMANO Not only do the children enjoy these games which involve buying and selling with play money, but the... WILLIAM E BILL VAUGHAN It's truly mind boggling to know that my most perfect woman for which my heart desires, is a promisc... FRANCESCO NICHOLAS CECE The solution to women's issues can only be achieved in a free and democratic society in which hu... TAWAKKOL KARMAN Life is neither a glorious highlight reel nor a monstrous tragedy. Every day is a good day to live a... KILROY J. OLDSTER The thing for me about Ayn Rand is that her philosophy is the only one applicable to the world today... NEIL PEART Clay in the hands of a good potter suffers so many good turns, but in the end, we see its real and t... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Training is an active, dynamic process lived out daily in all areas of life- not a rote exercise in ... CRAIG GROESCHEL Evil working in subtler fashion; marriages that proved to be no more then legalized slavery, and the... MERCEDES LACKEY The progress of our soul is like a perfect poem. It has an infinite idea which once realized makes a... RABINDRANATH TAGORE Palm Sunday In the person of Christ, the formidable law of God, which by itself appalls us by its... E. E. JENKINS We advocate the atheistic philosophy because it is the only clear, consistent position which seems p... E. HALDEMAN-JULIUS Now is the only time we have, and the only time that we have any control over. RICHARD CARLSON We carry about us the burden of what thousands of people have said and the memories of all our misfo... JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI Yes, I know that now that there is truth in beauty and beauty in truth. My nature is to be depressiv... ABIGAIL GEORGE Beauty is a primeval phenomenon, which itself never makes its appearance, but the reflection of whic... JOHANN VON GOETHE Beauty is a primeval phenomenon, which itself never makes its appearance, but the reflection of whic... JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE How do you know if something is real? That’s easy. Does it change you? Does it form you? Does it g... C. JOYBELL C. It was frustrating to still be in the dark about something and be given only so little light. LAUREN LOLA There is no such thing as morality or immorality in thought. There is immoral emotion. OSCAR WILDE Survival of the fittest" in the commonly used animal sense is not a theory or principle for a "time-... ALFRED KORZYBSKI Like gods, we have created a new universe called cyberspace that contains great good and ominous evi... DAVID HORSEY However human, envy is certainly not one of the sources of discontent that a free society can elimin... F.A. HAYEK Within the soul of America is freedom of mind and spirit in man. Here alone are the open windows thr... HERBERT HOOVER What is the meaning of the togetherness of the perceiving mind, in that peculiar modification of per... SAMUEL ALEXANDER The public has a huge interest in the future of Air New Zealand, not only as shareholders but also b... ANDREW LITTLE Every science begins as philosophy and ends as art: It arises in hypothesis and flows into achieveme... WILL DURANT I’d wish it were easier to not allow other people’s pasts to create my own present. JONATHAN HARNISCH Now, more than ever, our society is in need of sensitive and empathic people. Now, more than ever, t... ALETHEIA LUNA No human face is exactly the same in its lines on each side, no leaf perfect in its lobes, no branch... JOHN RUSKIN Now is the only time we have, and the only time we have any control over. RICHARD CARLSON Philosophy not only begins with the individual, but also ends with the individual. For an individual... LIN YUTANG Without moral progress, stimulated by faith in God, immorality in all its forms will proliferate and... JAMES E. FAUST So much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty and greed with all th... ELEANOR ROOSEVELDT The relatively new trouble with mass society is perhaps even more serious, but not because of the ma... HANNAH ARENDT Sex joins two people spiritually and emotionally as well as physically. This is its purpose-to bond ... CRAIG GROESCHEL However great an evil immorality may be, we must not forget that it is not without its beneficial co... KARL WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT However great an evil immorality may be, we must not forget that it is not without its beneficial co... WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT However great an evil immorality may be, we must not forget that it is not without its beneficial ... KARL WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT Babylon in all its desolation is a sight not so awful as that of
the human mind in ruins. SCROPE DAVIES I'm prepared now to use the wonderful word confluence, which of itself exists as a reality and a sym... EUDORA WELTY I think that many people will intentionally overlook all of the lifeless facts about their relations... C. JOYBELL C. Skepticism is thus a resting-place for human reason, where it can reflect upon its dogmatic wanderin... IMMANUEL KANT It is not the evil itself which is horrifying about our times – it is the way we not only tolerate... GEORGE LINCOLN ROCKWELL It is not the evil itself which is horrifying about our times it is the way we not only tolerate ... GEORGE LINCOLN ROCKWELL you left and i wanted you still yet i deserved someone who was willing to stay RUPI KAUR The human mind is a dramatic structure in itself and our society is absolutely saturated with drama. EDWARD BOND The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in phi... JOHN W. GARDNER The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in phi... JOHN W. GARDNER Our notion of the perfect society embraces the family as its center and ornament, and this paradise ... AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT Practice, it is said, makes perfect. But is it ethical to practice? And I absolutely think it is not... ALAN COLMAN I took inspiration from 'Fountainhead,' the way in which Ayn Rand conveyed her political phi... ELIYAHU GOLDRATT The Bible is the Chief moral cause of all that is good, and the best corrector of all that is evil, ... NOAH WEBSTER Life is not a game. Still, in this life, we choose the games we live to play. J.R. RIM Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mista... GEORGE ORWELL 'Country' and 'city' are very powerful words, and this is not surprising when we remember how much t... RAYMOND WILLIAMS To become acquainted with kindness one must be prepared to learn new things and feel new feelings. K... ROBERT J. FUREY After six generations of award-winning Web Services Security products and the largest number of cust... WALID NEGM Egotism is the evil of all profits. ROGER HAURIGI To stand on the brink of what is coming, feeling eager, optimistic anticipation—with no feeli... ASK AND IT IS GIVEN There is nothing known as "Perfect". Its only those imperfections which we choose not to see!! ALBERT EINSTEIN There are types of people who want to have leverage over other people's lives. For no other reason t... C. JOYBELL C. The struggle is part of your story but Everything will be in place in the right situation at a perfe... NAPZ CHERUB PELLAZO I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions. But laws and institutions must ... THOMAS JEFFERSON I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must ... THOMAS JEFFERSON The New Atheists believe that science replaces the claims about the world that religion makes — an... MICHAEL RUSE If we can't make any mistakes in front of anyone, how can anyone make any mistakes in front of us? I... AKIROQ BROST Without ethics, a human race falls to inhumanity. Ethics determines your real value in this world an... NAZIM AMBALATH It is only human supremacy, which is as unacceptable as racism and sexism, that makes us afraid of b... INGRID NEWKIRK It is like visiting one's funeral, like visiting loss in its purest and most monumental form, th... HAROLD BRODKEY Gore Vidal has been a friend of mine for years, and he's one of the greatest writers in American... CYBILL SHEPHERD We need a President who is not afraid of complexity, who believes in an open and tolerant society, a... CAROLINE KENNEDY We need a President who is not afraid of complexity, who believes in an open and tolerant society, a... CAROLINE SCHLOSSBERG We need a President who is not afraid of complexity, who believes in an open and tolerant society, a... CAROLINE KENNEDY SCHLOSSBERG Consciousness is a phase of mental life which arises in connection with the formation of new habits.... W. R. [WILLIAM RALPH] INGE
More Gore Vidal
Having no contemporaries left means you cannot say, 'Well, so-and-so will like this,' which ... GORE VIDAL McCain is significant in the sense that he has no significance at all on any subject. GORE VIDAL I can understand companionship. GORE VIDAL Of all recent presidents, Clinton was expected to behave the most sensibly in economic matters. He u... GORE VIDAL The first grown-up book that I read on my own was a nineteenth-century edition of 'Tales from Li... GORE VIDAL I'm not paranoid, no. I'm different in that I have enemies. Very real ones. GORE VIDAL What is in question is a kind of book reviewing which seems to be more and more popular: the loose p... GORE VIDAL The United States was founded by the brightest people in the country - and we haven't seen them ... GORE VIDAL As for civil liberties, any one who is not vigilant may one day find himself living, if not in a pol... GORE VIDAL The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No Fi... GORE VIDAL At any given moment, public opinion is a chaos of superstition, misinformation and prejudice. GORE VIDAL Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some eviden... GORE VIDAL Our form of democracy is bribery, on the highest scale. GORE VIDAL I could be a lot happier. I could be the senator from Aerospace taking bribes, and be quite happy. GORE VIDAL I find in most novels no imagination at all. They seem to think the highest form of the novel is to ... GORE VIDAL Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith. GORE VIDAL Many writers who choose to be active in the world lose not virtue but time, and that stillness witho... GORE VIDAL Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. Shakespeare has perhaps twenty players, an... GORE VIDAL That is sad until one recalls how many bad books the world may yet be spared because of the busyness... GORE VIDAL Never miss a chance to have sex or appear on television. GORE VIDAL For half a century photography has been the "art form" of the untalented. Obviously some pictures ar... GORE VIDAL Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is... GORE VIDAL Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence... GORE VIDAL Some writers take to drink, others take to audiences. GORE VIDAL It is difficult to find a reputable American historian who will acknowledge the crude fact that a Fr... GORE VIDAL I never miss a chance to have sex or appear on television. GORE VIDAL There is no such thing as a homosexual or a heterosexual person. There are only homo -- or heterosex... GORE VIDAL Sex is. There is nothing more to be done about it. Sex builds no roads, writes no novels and sex cer... GORE VIDAL The more money an American accumulates, the less interesting he becomes. GORE VIDAL Never have children, only grand children. GORE VIDAL Great critics do not explicate a text; they describe it and then report on what they have described,... GORE VIDAL I'm exactly as I appear. There is no warm lovable person inside. Beneath my cold exterior, once you ... GORE VIDAL When Ronald Reagan's career in show business came to an end, he was hired to impersonate, first, a C... GORE VIDAL How marvelous books are, crossing worlds and centuries, defeating ignorance and, finally, cruel time... GORE VIDAL There is hardly an American male of my generation who has not at one time or another tried to master... GORE VIDAL Of course, it is possible for any citizen with time to spare, and a canny eye, to work out what is a... GORE VIDAL The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western World. No Fi... GORE VIDAL For half a century, photography has been the art form of the untalented. Obviously some pictures are... GORE VIDAL As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to ill... GORE VIDAL There is something about a bureaucrat that does not like a poem. GORE VIDAL If most men and women were forced to rely upon physical charm to attract lovers, their sexual lives ... GORE VIDAL Democracy is supposed to give you the feeling of choice, like Painkiller X and Painkiller Y. But the... GORE VIDAL Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues an... GORE VIDAL Laughing at someone else is an excellent way of learning how to laugh at oneself; and questioning wh... GORE VIDAL It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imag... GORE VIDAL Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies. GORE VIDAL In America, the race goes to the loud, the solemn, the hustler. If you think you're a great writer, ... GORE VIDAL To a man, ornithologists are tall, slender, and bearded so that they can stand motionless for hours,... GORE VIDAL I'm all for bringing back the birch, but only between consenting adults. GORE VIDAL If most men and women were forced to rely upon physical charm to attract lovers, their sexual live... GORE VIDAL Half the American population no longer reads newspapers: plainly, they are the clever half. GORE VIDAL Style is knowing who you are, what to say, and not giving a damn. GORE VIDAL All the other candidates are making speeches about how much they have done for their country, which ... GORE VIDAL Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence t... GORE VIDAL It is marvelous indeed to watch on television the rings of Saturn close; and to speculate on what we... GORE VIDAL It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail. GORE VIDAL I'm a born-again atheist. GORE VIDAL Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes i... GORE VIDAL There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise. GORE VIDAL Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies. GORE VIDAL It is true, as Sartre once wrote, referring to French Army atrocities in Algeria, that the real trag... GORE VIDAL We are the United States of Amnesia, which is encouraged by a media that has no desire to tell us th... GORE VIDAL For every Scott Fitzgerald concerned with the precise word and the selection of relevant incident, t... GORE VIDAL On 16 September 1985, when the Commerce Department announced that the United States had become a deb... GORE VIDAL Washington turned a blind eye to Al-Qaeda. GORE VIDAL Because there is no cosmic point to the life that each of us perceives on this distant bit of dust a... GORE VIDAL I am a novelist turned temporary adventurer, and I chose to write television, movies and plays for m... GORE VIDAL I'm all for bringing back the birch, but only between consenting adults. GORE VIDAL Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn. GORE VIDAL The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning th... GORE VIDAL Write something, even if it's just a suicide note. GORE VIDAL As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to ill... GORE VIDAL There is only one party in the United States: the Property party... and it has two right wings: Repu... GORE VIDAL To invent a war means that you've become a wartime president, and you can suspend much if not al... GORE VIDAL By 1939, the Depression was back. Unemployment was huge. Roosevelt didn't have any quick fix. Re... GORE VIDAL It's always best to stay out of other people's divorces. And their civil wars. GORE VIDAL Until the rise of American advertising, it never occurred to anyone anywhere in the world that the t... GORE VIDAL I am told the Cheney-Bush team dislikes their junta being compared to the Nazis. If they ceased beha... GORE VIDAL Walter Lippmann suggests that the United States behaves like a society which thinks it is complete w... GORE VIDAL Fortunately, our audiences are used to a kind of boredom in the theatre, and if the writer is skillf... GORE VIDAL Democracy is supposed to give you the feeling of choice, like Painkiller X and Painkiller Y. But the... GORE VIDAL Jack Kennedy very much enjoyed Fletcher Knebel's thriller 'Seven Days in May,' later a f... GORE VIDAL Each youth betrays considerable anxiety about the wedding night ahead. GORE VIDAL In August 1961, I visited President Kennedy at Hyannis Port. The Berlin Wall was going up, and he wa... GORE VIDAL I think I have a normal threshold of anger, but it's true that I am, by nature, belligerent. GORE VIDAL The four most beautiful words in our common language: I told you so. GORE VIDAL It makes no difference who you vote for - the two parties are really one party representing four per... GORE VIDAL Andy Warhol is the only genius I've ever known with an I.Q. of 60. GORE VIDAL No sooner does an American president take his oath of office than the speculation begins: Will he be... GORE VIDAL That loyal retainer of the Chase Manhattan Bank, the American president. GORE VIDAL Envy is the central fact of American life. GORE VIDAL I didn't mean to spend my life writing American history, which should have been taught in the sc... GORE VIDAL I'm not a conspiracy theorist - I'm a conspiracy analyst. GORE VIDAL By the end of World War II, we were the most powerful and least damaged of the great nations. We als... GORE VIDAL Temperamentally, I am suspicious of belonging to anything. When I ran for office, I debated seriousl... GORE VIDAL The greatest pleasure when I started making money was not buying cars or yachts but finding myself a... GORE VIDAL For certain people after 50, litigation takes the place of sex. GORE VIDAL It is not enough to succeed; others must fail. GORE VIDAL Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little. GORE VIDAL For certain people after fifty, litigation takes the place of sex. GORE VIDAL Television is now so desperately hungry for material that they're scraping the top of the barrel. GORE VIDAL I don't want prizes. I turned down the National Institute of Arts and Letters when I was elected to ... GORE VIDAL Young people are more hopeful at a certain age than adults, but I suspect that's glandular. As for c... GORE VIDAL I might be President by now if it weren't for this 'queer' thing GORE VIDAL Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn. GORE VIDAL Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualifi... GORE VIDAL A talent for drama is not a talent for writing, but is an ability to articulate human relationships. GORE VIDAL The theater needs continual reminders that there is nothing more debasing than the work of those who... GORE VIDAL A narcissist is someone better looking than you are. GORE VIDAL All in all, I would not have missed this century for the world. GORE VIDAL The last best hope of earth, two trillion dollars in debt, is spinning out of control, and all we ca... GORE VIDAL Never have children, only grandchildren. GORE VIDAL It makes no difference whom you vote for -- the two parties are really one party representing four p... GORE VIDAL Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is ... GORE VIDAL I can understand companionship. I can understand bought sex in the afternoon. I cannot understand th... GORE VIDAL Whenever a friend succeeds a little something in me dies. GORE VIDAL Americans, in general, are ignorant, bigoted, and deeply unhappy with their declining incomes. GORE VIDAL Television is now so desparately hungry for material that they're scraping the top of the barrel. GORE VIDAL Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers... GORE VIDAL There's a lot to be said for being nouveau riche, and the Reagans mean to say it all. GORE VIDAL I'm exactly as I appear. There is no warm, lovable person inside. Beneath my cold exterior, once... GORE VIDAL I can't name three first-rate literary critics in the United States. I'm told there are a fe... GORE VIDAL I was raised in the Washington household of my grandfather Senator Thomas P. Gore of Oklahoma, and h... GORE VIDAL Now you have people in Washington who have no interest in the country at all. They're interested... GORE VIDAL I'm a fervent foe of water pollution, whether it is our own Hudson River or Philadelphia's t... GORE VIDAL He (Donald) is thorough and very careful not to take sides when there's insufficient evidence, GORE VIDAL Religions sprang up among men to deal with the sometimes terrifying aspects of existence, to make se... GORE VIDAL Rome... at its most decadent, had never thought of hiring an actor to go through the motions of bein... GORE VIDAL Now you have people in Washington who have no interest in the country at all. They're interested in ... GORE VIDAL Most writers write books that they wouldn't read. I ought to know; I've done it myself. GORE VIDAL The last best hope of earth, two trillion dollars in debt, is spinning out of control, and all we ca... GORE VIDAL All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting to encounter yourself. GORE VIDAL Didn't George Washington say, 'He who controls Afghanistan will carry New Jersey?' GORE VIDAL On September 5, 1774, forty-five of the weightiest colonial men formed the First Continental Congres... GORE VIDAL Overcrowding in the cities is producing a collective madness in which irrational violence flourishes... GORE VIDAL After the French Revolution, the world money power shifted from Paris to London. For three generatio... GORE VIDAL Jews, blacks and homosexuals are despised by the Christian and Communist majorities of East and West... GORE VIDAL The American press exists for one purpose only, and that is to convince Americans that they are livi... GORE VIDAL To preserve the human race, it is now necessary to reorganize society. To this end, an Authority mus... GORE VIDAL I don't even read most reviews, unless there is a potential lawsuit on view. GORE VIDAL The only thing that I react really violently to is being misquoted. GORE VIDAL 'The Turner Diaries' is a racist daydream by a former physics teacher writing under the pseu... GORE VIDAL Both Marx and Christ agree that in this life, a right action is consideration for the welfare of oth... GORE VIDAL I like the way you always manage to state the obvious with a sense of real discovery. GORE VIDAL The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning th... GORE VIDAL What the Kinseyites and I had in common so long ago was the knowledge that homosexual and heterosexu... GORE VIDAL There is no such thing as a homosexual or a heterosexual person. There are only homo- or heterosexua... GORE VIDAL In the German concentration camps, Jews wore yellow stars while homosexuals wore pink lambdas. GORE VIDAL In America, the race goes to the loud, the solemn, the hustler. If you think you're a great writ... GORE VIDAL It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imag... GORE VIDAL Trust a nitwit society like this one to think that there are only two categories - fag and straight. GORE VIDAL Primarily, I am a prose writer with axes to grind, and the theatre is a good place to do the grindin... GORE VIDAL Fifty percent of people won't vote, and fifty percent don't read newspapers. I hope it's the same fi... GORE VIDAL Litigation takes the place of sex at middle age. GORE VIDAL What other culture could have produced someone like Hemingway and not seen the joke? GORE VIDAL If most men and women were forced to rely upon physical charm to attract lovers, their sexual lives ... GORE VIDAL These people [Bush Administration] are for the most part rip-off artists. Notice that they're all ga... GORE VIDAL The idea of a good society is something you do not need a religion and eternal punishment to buttres... GORE VIDAL Andy Warhol is the only genius I've ever known with an I.Q. of 60. GORE VIDAL I don't see us winning the war. We have made enemies of one billion Muslims." GORE VIDAL roughly 80 percent of police work in the United States has to do with the regulation of our private ... GORE VIDAL I'm all for bringing back the birch, but only between consenting adults GORE VIDAL It is essential to naturalist doctrine that literature, to be good, must, finally, be the author'... GORE VIDAL I have always regarded as a stroke of good fortune that I was not born or brought up in a small Amer... GORE VIDAL Constant work, constant writing and constant revision. The real writer learns nothing from life. He ... GORE VIDAL Although Americans justify their self-interest in moral terms, their true interest is never itself m... GORE VIDAL There is something about the state putting the power to bully into the hands of subnormal, sadistic ... GORE VIDAL I’m not sentimental about anything. Life flows by, and you flow with it or you don’t. Move on an... GORE VIDAL I don't want anything. I don't want a job. I don't want to be respectable. I don't want prizes. I tu... GORE VIDAL Ultimately, totalitarianism is the only sort of politics that can truly serve the sky-god's purpose.... GORE VIDAL A current pejorative adjective is narcissistic. Generally, a narcissist is anyone better looking tha... GORE VIDAL I'm a born-again atheist GORE VIDAL We are the United States of Amnesia. GORE VIDAL Write something, even if it's just a suicide note. GORE VIDAL It makes no difference who you vote for - the two parties are really one party representing four per... GORE VIDAL I am an obsessive rewriter, doing one draft and then another and another, usually five. In a way, I ... GORE VIDAL That is New York. I pointed to the waterfront just ahead as if the city were mine. GORE VIDAL For certain people, after fifty, litigation takes the place of sex GORE VIDAL A court is the most depressing place on earth. Wherever there is a throne, one may observe in rich d... GORE VIDAL The truth about Pearl Harbour is obscured to this day. But it has been much studied. GORE VIDAL To get people to do needed things is the perennial hard task of government, not to mention of religi... GORE VIDAL Since we have literally targeted our enemies, the Pentagon assumes that, sooner or later, rogues wil... GORE VIDAL I sometimes think it is because they are so bad at expressing themselves verbally that writers take ... GORE VIDAL World War II made prosperous the United States, which had been undergoing a depression for a dozen y... GORE VIDAL To a born-again atheist like myself, it is clear that each of us has multiple selves, talents, perce... GORE VIDAL Remember, I'm West Point, where I was born. My father went there. GORE VIDAL Europe began as the relatively empty, uncivilized Wild West of Asia; then the Western Hemisphere bec... GORE VIDAL Everything's wrong on Wikipedia. GORE VIDAL You hear all this whining going on, 'Where are our great writers?' The thing I might feel do... GORE VIDAL Life will be wonderful when men no longer fear dying. When the last superstitions are thrown out and... GORE VIDAL Even a child could see the division between what the Galileans [i.e., Christians] say they believe a... GORE VIDAL Ayn Rand is a rhetorician who writes novels I have never been able to read. GORE VIDAL Television is now so desperately hungry for material that they're scraping the top of the barrel... GORE VIDAL The Pentagon talks about our power to 'overkill' Russia ten times, twenty times, perhaps for... GORE VIDAL The behaviour of President Bush on 11 September certainly gives rise to not unnatural suspicions. GORE VIDAL In classical times, it was a capital offense to speculate upon the hour of a king's death or upo... GORE VIDAL My memory plays me odd tricks these days [...] Age spares us nothing, old friend. Like ancient trees... GORE VIDAL ...is not all philosophy but preparation for a serene dying? GORE VIDAL The failure of Hellenism has been, largely, a matter of organization. Rome never tried to impose any... GORE VIDAL But like so many others nowadays, poor Julian wanted to believe that man's life is profoundly more s... GORE VIDAL