Nothing human is finally calculable; even to ourselves we are strange. Gore Vidal More Quotes by Gore Vidal More Quotes From Gore Vidal Capote I truly loathed. The way you might loathe an animal. A filthy animal that has found its way into the house. Gore Vidal houseanimalmight Baum (Writer of THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ) was a true educator, and those who read his Oz books are often made what they were not-imaginative , tolerant, alert to wonders, life. Gore Vidal wizardswonderbook All Americans born between 1890 and 1945 wanted to be movie stars. Gore Vidal moviebornstars In large Victorian houses with many rooms and heavy doors, the occupants could be mysterious and exciting to one another in a way that those who live in rackety developments can never hope to be. Not even the lust of a Lord Byron could survive the fact of Levittown. Gore Vidal lusthousedoors One of the most fascinating aspects of politician-watching is trying to determine to what extent any politician believes what he says. Gore Vidal politiciantryingbelieve The problem with most Americans is that they don't like any question that takes more than ten seconds to answer. Gore Vidal secondsproblemanswers Yet in a society of conflicting interests the only democratic way in which matters can be improved is through politics, and politics means the compromising of extremes in order to achieve that notorious half loaf which the passionate and the outraged never find sufficient. Gore Vidal matterordermean It is natural for men to want power. But to seek power actively takes a temperament baffling to both the simple and the wise. The simple cannot fathom how any man would dare presume to prevail, while the wise are amazed that any reasonable man would want the world, assuming he could get it. Gore Vidal powerwisemen It used to be the custom in this country that when you had made a career and were mature in judgment, you went to the Senate to give something back t the Republic. The idea that at age 25 you go out and buy a blow dryer and starting running for office is not what the founders had in mind Gore Vidal blowrunningcountry 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 photographylawart When the Presidential virus attacks the system there is a tendency for the patient in his fever to move from the Right or the Left to the Center where the curative votes are. Gore Vidal virusespresidentialmoving 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. Gore Vidal reasonableassumingliterature Love, like a sense of humor, is now claimed by everyone even though Love, like a sense of humor, is rather more rare than not, and to most of us poor muddlers unbearable at full strength. Gore Vidal sense-of-humorunbearablelove Universities are filled with poets and novelists conducting demure and careful lives in imitation of Eliot and Forster and those others who (through what seems to be have been discretion) made it. Gore Vidal imitationnovelistspoet The oligarchs think that the people are both dangerous and stupid. Their point is moot. But we do know that the oligarchs are a good deal more dangerous to the polity than the people at large. Gore Vidal stupidpeoplethinking CO₂ emissions anywhere threaten civilisation everywhere. Gore Vidal emissionscivilisationenvironmental Gentlemen are not supposed to tell the truth about their sex lives, nor are ladies, for that matter. Of course Clinton lied - as would anybody in his position. Gore Vidal gentlemanmattersex It never occurred to any Enlightenment figure in the eighteenth century that law was not preferable to man. Gore Vidal centurylawmen A babble of words that no one understands now fills the airwaves, and language loses all meaning as we sink slowly, mindlessly, into herstory rather than history because most rapists are men, aren't they? Gore Vidal politicallanguagemen If satire is to be effective, the audience must be aware of the thing satirized. Gore Vidal satireaudienceifs
