Gore Vidal quotes - page 9

Gore Vidal was an American writer, essayist, and public intellectual, renowned for his sharp wit and provocative commentary. Best known for his novels, plays, and essays, he was also a prominent figure in political and cultural debates. He challenged conventional ideas and remains influential for his fearless criticism and distinct literary style. Here are 226 of his quotes:

There is hardly an American male of my generation who has not at one time or another tried to master the victory cry of the great ape as it issued from the androgynous chest of Johnny Weissmuller, to the accompaniment of thousands of arms and legs snapping during attempts to swing from tree to tree in the backyards of the Republic.

Gore Vidal

I'm a born - again atheist.

Gore Vidal

The period of Prohibition - called the noble experiment - brought on the greatest breakdown of law and order the United States has known until today. I think there is a lesson here. Do not regulate the private morals of people. Do not tell them what they can take or not take. Because if you do, they will become angry and antisocial and they will get what they want from criminals who are able to work in perfect freedom because they have paid off the police.

Gore Vidal

A talent for drama is not a talent for writing, but is an ability to articulate human relationships.

Gore Vidal

Friends, there is no Left in American politics.

Gore Vidal

[Professor] Frank recalled my idle remark some years ago: 'Never pass up the opportunity to have sex or appear on television.' Advice I would never give today in the age of AIDS and its television equivalent Fox News.

Gore Vidal

Apparently, a concern for others is self-love at its least attractive, while greed is now a sign of the higher altruism.

Gore Vidal

Private lives should be no business of the State. The State is bad enough as it is.

Gore Vidal

It is notable how little empathy is cultivated or valued in our society.

Gore Vidal

The period of Prohibition - called the noble experiment - brought on the greatest breakdown of law and order the United States has known until today. I think there is a lesson here.

Gore Vidal

Big oil, big steel, big agriculture avoid the open marketplace.

Gore Vidal

Lennon was somebody who was a born enemy of those who govern the United States. He was everything they hated.

Gore Vidal

A current pejorative adjective is narcissistic. Generally, a narcissist is anyone better looking than you are, but lately the adjective is often applied to those "liberals” who prefer to improve the lives of others rather than exploit them.

Gore Vidal

As I looked back over my life, I realized that I enjoyed nothing--not art, not sex--more than going to the movies.

Gore Vidal

Because there is no cosmic point to the life that each of us perceives on this distant bit of dust at the galaxy's edge... there is all the more reason for us to maintain in proper balance what we have here. Because there is nothing else. No thing. This is it. And quite enough, all in all.

Gore Vidal

We're not a democracy.

Gore Vidal

I'm exactly as I appear. There is no warm, lovable person inside. Beneath my cold exterior, once you break the ice, you find cold water.

Gore Vidal

For half a century photography has been the 'art form' of the untalented. Obviously some pictures are more satisfactory than others, but where is credit due to the designer of the camera To the finger on the button to the law of averages.

Gore Vidal

Laughing at someone else is an excellent way of learning how to laugh at oneself and questioning what seem to be the absurd beliefs of another group is a good way of recognizing the potential absurdity of many of one's own cherished beliefs.

Gore Vidal

Rome... at its most decadent, had never thought of hiring an actor to go through the motions of being an emperor while the Praetorian Guard ruled.

Gore Vidal

It makes no difference who you vote for the two parties are really one party representing four percent of the people.

Gore Vidal

It is reasonable to assume that, by and large, what is not read now will not be read, ever. It is also reasonable to assume that practically nothing that is read now will be read later. Finally, it is not too farfetched to imagine a future in which novels are not read at all.

Gore Vidal