The people are not stupid, but they are totally misinformed. Gore Vidal More Quotes by Gore Vidal More Quotes From Gore Vidal I was the first - I was extremely unpopular with the establishment of the United States, particularly the New York Times was always an enemy, and Time magazine, off and on, the enemy, because I said things and took positions that other people didn't do. Gore Vidal new-york people enemy The real writer learns nothing from life. He is more like an oyster or a sponge. Gore Vidal sponges oysters real USA is suffering between imperialists and anti-imperialists. That is the situation. The most powerful country in the world is on its way back to the Stone Age. Gore Vidal usa powerful country Americans are not only a less homogenous population than we were when we were 3 million ex-colonists, but we're less educated. On top of that, we have constant misinformation and manipulation by media. Gore Vidal manipulation population media Politically, of course, it's to the Right, but then the whole country is to the Right. Gore Vidal courses whole country If you're not part of that club, as I certainly am not, you are not presidential. Gore Vidal presidential clubs ifs To bring into the world an unwanted human being is as antisocial an act as murder. Gore Vidal dying death world I am savage about what has been done to the United States by its rulers. Gore Vidal savages united-states done When you come from a family that has been political, and I was brought up by my grandfather in the Senate, my father was in Roosevelt's Cabinet, this is not the class that produces writers or reflective people. Gore Vidal class father people I was never my own type so I completely missed my beauty all through my youth. Gore Vidal type youth my-own ...I'm no longer the scales most lovers are, weighing the deeds and gifts and treasures proffered against those received or stolen from the other, trying always to bring into fatal balance two separate things. Gore Vidal balance trying two I have always found men quite fathomable. They look entirely to their own interest. Gore Vidal found men looks Celebrities are invariably celebrity-mad, just as liars always believe liars. Gore Vidal mad liars believe All I want is that Americans still be able to read the alphabet in a hundred years. I am not very ambitious. Gore Vidal ambitious want years You can't be both a writer and a politician, at least not a good writer. A writer must always tell the truth as he sees it. And the politician must never give the game away. Gore Vidal telling-the-truth games giving It is of no consequence to you what others think of you. What matters is what you think of them. That is how you live your life. Gore Vidal live-your-life what-matters thinking Heaven's sakes, there's only one party which I call the Property Party. It's got two wings. One is called the "Republican" and one is called "Democratic." It is the same party so it makes no difference whether a Democrat's elected or a Republican's elected. The ownership remains the same. Gore Vidal differences party wings Altruism is a brief phase through which some adolescents must pass. It is rather like acne. Happily, as with acne, only a few are permanently scarred. Gore Vidal altruism phases acne Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild. Gore Vidal grandchildren grandmother grandma I do not admire 'the people,' as such. No one really does. Their folk wisdom is usually false, their instincts predatory. Even their sense of survival - so highly developed in the individual - goes berserk in the mass. A crowd is a fool. Gore Vidal democracy survival people
