The British are absolutely hung up on class, and whenever they start to really - class for the English is like sex for Americans: They start to shake all over when the subject comes up. Gore Vidal More Quotes by Gore Vidal More Quotes From Gore Vidal I was brought up to believe that what is out-of-doors should stay there and not be encouraged in any way. Gore Vidal doors believe way Capote I truly loathed. The way you might loathe an animal. A filthy animal that has found its way into the house. Gore Vidal house animal might 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 wizards wonder book All Americans born between 1890 and 1945 wanted to be movie stars. Gore Vidal movie born stars 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 lust house doors One of the most fascinating aspects of politician-watching is trying to determine to what extent any politician believes what he says. Gore Vidal politician trying believe The problem with most Americans is that they don't like any question that takes more than ten seconds to answer. Gore Vidal seconds problem answers 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 matter order mean 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 power wise men 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 blow running country 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 photography law art 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 viruses presidential moving 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 reasonable assuming literature 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-humor unbearable love 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 imitation novelists poet 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 stupid people thinking CO₂ emissions anywhere threaten civilisation everywhere. Gore Vidal emissions civilisation environmental 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 gentleman matter sex It never occurred to any Enlightenment figure in the eighteenth century that law was not preferable to man. Gore Vidal century law men 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 political language men
