Life will be wonderful when men no longer fear dying. When the last superstitions are thrown out and we meet death with the same equanimity as life. No longer will children's minds be twisted by evil gods whose fantastic origin is in those barbaric tribes who feared death and lightning, who feared life. That's it: life is the villain to to those who preach reward in death, through grace and eternal bliss, or through dark revenge.
Gore Vidal
Related Those who have lived a good life do not fear death, but meet it calmly, and even long for it in the ... SOURCE UNKNOWN You fear them because you fear death, and rightly: for death is terrible and must be feared,' the ma... URSULA K. LE GUIN Only those who live a full, fun-filled, and happy life have no regrets or fear of death. LORRIN L. LEE The trickster, the riddler, the keeper of balance, he of the many faces who finds life in death and ... CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI In Goddess religion death is not feared, but is understood to be a part of life, followed by birth a... CAROL P. CHRIST No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. He and his are not neglected by the... SOCRATES The Father is the Giver of Life; but the Mother is the Giver of Death, because her womb is the gate ... KABBALAH Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not i... LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN Hateful is the power, and pitiable is the life, of those who wish to be feared rather than loved. CORNELIUS NEPOS Life rises out of death, death rises out of life; in being opposite they yearn to each other, they g... URSULA K. LE GUIN Life is the precious seed that births death, for without life there will be no death. DAVID ATTA (A.K.A DAVIED ATTLARS & MR DAIN) There are four kinds of people in the world, Ms. Harper. Those who build walls. Those who protect wa... P.S. BABER Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die; and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the ... THEODORE ROOSEVELT Of this I am certain, that no one has ever died who was not destined to die some time. Now the end o... ST. AUGUSTINE Unless death is made a lesson for the living, the life lived is wasted. Why should life come in... JOSEPH LEWIS Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely. BUDDHA Since the dawn of existence, you mortals have feared dying, feared the unknown and the pain o... VERA NAZARIAN If we all look at life we think how nice, then we look at death and everybody goes oh you can say th... GARY F EVANS... To those who have neither public nor private affections, the excitements of life are much curtailed,... JOHN STUART MILL Those who learned to know death, rather than to fear and fight it, become our teachers about life. ELISABETH KUBLER-ROSS It is not to be thought that the life of darkness is sunk in misery and lost as if in sorrowing. The... JAKOB BöHME Be careful who influence and inspire your life. Their ways seem like leading to life but the truth i... ANN MARIE AGUILAR I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES When we deal with death, the pupils will always be fixed and dilated, which indicates that there is ... ANN HOOD Death is the veil which those who live call life; They sleep, and it is lifted. PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY Death is the veil which those who live call life; They sleep, and it is lifted PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY The cycle of life is death, decomposition and regeneration, and a person who wants to stop killing a... JOEL SALATIN I feared for my life; it was a life-or-death situation. In some ways, I've never really gotten it ou... WINSTON CAVIN Regarding those who face the death penalty, I announce that we are changing that punishment and will... GLORIA ARROYO Those who seek death shall live. Those who seek life shall die. YI SUN-SIN No, it is actually. Life and death are less life-and-death than love is." -Nora TIFFANY REISZ Make every day count... Even when you think it's the worst day of your life; for you never know when... SOLANGE NICOLE Be of good cheer about death and know this as a truth-- that no evil can happen to a good man, eith... SOCRATES The reason dying is so easy is because death has no meaning... And the reason death has no meaning i... JANNE TELLER Those who fall the deepest are the ones who reach the longer in life. VARTOMIO CAIN If life must not be taken too seriously, then so neither must death. SAMUEL BUTLER Death has a thousand doors to let out life: I shall find one PHILIP MASSINGER Death is one moment, and life is so many of them TENNESSEE WILLIAMS Doctors are pleased with the way the operation went. But he is still connected to life support and i... JOEL MENARD (I want him to be sentenced to) life in prison. I don't want the death penalty. I want him to live t... PEGGY WHITE Life is here only to be lived so that we can, through life, earn the right to death, which to me is ... ANNE BANCROFT Broadly speaking, human beings may be divided into three classes: those who are billed to death, tho... WINSTON CHURCHILL You'll have a good, secure life when being alive means more to you than security, love more than mon... WILHELM REICH Death, so called, is a thing which makes men weep: and yet a third of Life is passed in sleep LORD BYRON For those who seek to understand it, death is a highly creative force. The highest spiritual values ... ELISABETH KUBLER-ROSS Those who love to be feared fear to be loved. SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES There will always be those little minds who, out of vanity or intellectual display, will attempt to ... EZRA TAFT BENSON If we conform our behavior to God’s ancient moral prescription, we are entitled to the sweet benef... JAMES C. DOBSON The principles of gain through loss, of joy through sorrow, of getting by giving, of fulfillment by ... ELISABETH ELLIOT Death is an evil; the gods have so judged; had it been good, they would die SAPPHO Jesus viewed his own destiny - to be glorified in and through death - as an expression of a kind of ... JOHN ORTBERG Our memory is a more perfect world than the universe: it gives back life to those who no longer exis... GUY DE MAUPASSANT All men fear death. It’s a natural fear that consumes us all. We fear death because we feel that w... WOODY ALLEN Life is a dream from which we all must wake before we can dream again. ROBERT JORDAN You die as you've lived. If you were paranoid in life, you'll probably be paranoid when you're dying... DR. JAMES CIMINO In life we meet people and they come and go. But, only God will remain the same. Despite what others... AMAKA IMANI NKOSAZANA Death is always less painful and easier than life! You speak true. And yet we do not, day to day, ch... ROBIN HOBB There are three kinds of death in this world. There's heart death, there's brain death, and there's... GUY ALMES A hero is someone who is sacrifice her or his life to
Protect us from evil terrorist
While we, ordin... PALITHA ARIYARATHNA Without death we can never appreciate life & without life there would be no death. DAVID ATTA (A.K.A DAVIED ATTLARS & MR DAIN) In the end we all come to be cured of our sentiments. Those whom life does not cure death will. CORMAC MCCARTHY Someone who touches your heart, all be it a mere fleeting moment, means no less than those who stay ... VIRGINIA ALISON Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because t... DIETRICH BONHOEFFER Yes, if the life and death of Socrates are those of a wise man, the life and death of Jesus are thos... JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU Death, the most dreaded of all evils, is therefore of no concern to us; for while we exist death is ... EPICURUS Death lives longer than life. DAVID ATTA (A.K.A DAVIED ATTLARS & MR DAIN) There is no death! What seems so is transition; This life of mortal breath is but a suburb of the li... HENRY W. LONGFELLOW There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. The dark background which death sup... GEORGE SANTAYANA It is from the bystanders (who are in the vast majority) that we receive the propaganda that life is... HUNTER S. THOMPSON Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we... SUSAN ERTZ Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we... EPICURUS Who is mightier than death? Those who can smile when death threatens. RUCKETT No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. PLATO Only those few who are able to surpass their fear of death completely can fully experience the highe... ZEENA SCHRECK Serenity is the balance between good and bad, life and death, horrors and pleasures. Life is, as it ... NORMAN DAVIES Only in death will we have our own names since only in death are we no longer part of the effort. In... CHUCK PALAHNIUK There is nothing to be feared from a body, Harry, any more than there is anything to be feared from ... J.K. ROWLING Feast of Commemoration of Helena, Protector of the Faith, 330 The cross is laid on every Christian... DIETRICH BONHOEFFER Unfortunately pain is a part of the cycle we call life, just as much as dying is...although pain is ... DEYON ANTEKO PITTER The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be ... SOPHIE SCHOLL Who is better off? The one who writes to revel in the voluptuousness of the life that surrounds them... ROMAN PAYNE I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by refl... THOMAS PAINE I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by refl... LEONARDO DA VINCI It comes with faith, for with complete faith there is no fear of what faces you in life or death. JACQUELINE COCHRAN To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead. BERTRAND RUSSELL To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already 3-parts dead. BERTRAND RUSSELL To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead. BERTRAND RUSSEL We are all in a race for dear life: that is to say, we are fugitives from death THEODOR REIK So softly death succeeded life in her, She did but dream of heaven, and she was there JOHN DRYDEN Death ends a life, not a relationship. ROBERT BENCHLEY Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard d... WASHINGTON IRVING Pain and death are part of life. To reject them is to reject life itself. HAVELOCK ELLIS No matter what is happening in life or in the world - war, natural disaster, poor health, pain, the ... KAREN DECROW E.M. Ashford: And death shall be no more" comma "death, thou shalt die." Nothing but a breath, a com... MARGARET EBSON Basically, I feel fortunate to have realized what the goal is in life. There's no point in dying... GEORGE HARRISON People fear death even more than pain. It's strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than... JIM MORRISON I am finding myself: it's deadly because only death concludes me. But I bear it until the end. I'll ... CLARICE LISPECTOR There is an abiding beauty which may be appreciated by those who will see things as they are and who... VERA BRITTAIN You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to ... THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH Death is the end of life; ah why Should life all labour be? . . . All things have rest, and ... ALFRED LORD TENNYSON
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 Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience al... 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 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