Gore Vidal quotes

Born
October 3, 1925 West Point, New York, U.S.

Died
July 31, 2012.

Occupation
Writer, novelist.

Gore Vidal was an American writer and public intellectual known for his patrician manner, epigrammatic wit, and polished style of writing.

At any given moment, public opinion is a chaos of superstition, misinformation and prejudice.
– Gore Vidal

I’m not a conspiracy theorist – I’m a conspiracy analyst.
– Gore Vidal

He who is last had best laugh.
– Gore Vidal

You cannot deprive somebody of life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, because that is a right – constitutional right.
– Gore Vidal

I’m not paranoid, no. I’m different in that I have enemies. Very real ones.
– Gore Vidal

Envy is the central fact of American life.
– Gore Vidal

Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.
– Gore Vidal

Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
– Gore Vidal

Litigation takes the place of sex at middle age.
– Gore Vidal

Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.
– Gore Vidal

By 1939, the Depression was back. Unemployment was huge. Roosevelt didn’t have any quick fix. Remember, the New Deal, Works Progress Administration, and Civilian Conservation Corps – all that happened years before. Roosevelt was riding a storm.
– Gore Vidal

My father had lifelong contempt for politicians.
– Gore Vidal

Both Marx and Christ agree that in this life, a right action is consideration for the welfare of others.
– Gore Vidal

My family is Southern. I’m used to Bill Clintons.
– Gore Vidal

All in all, I would not have missed this century for the world.
– Gore Vidal

One is sorry one could not have taken both branches of the road. But we were not allotted multiple selves.
– Gore Vidal

I am only at home in the present.
– Gore Vidal

I think there is an instinct out there to rid us of our masters.
– Gore Vidal

Our form of democracy is bribery, on the highest scale.
– Gore Vidal

Write something, even if it’s just a suicide note.
– Gore Vidal

It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.
– Gore Vidal

Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.
– Gore Vidal

Why not just eliminate the federal income tax?
– Gore Vidal

A racial or religious or tribal identity is a kind of fact.
– Gore Vidal

It’s odd to meet a rather elderly man who says, ‘I’ve been reading you all my life.’ It makes you feel a slight chill.
– Gore Vidal

The unfed mind devours itself.
– Gore Vidal

Never have children, only grandchildren.
– Gore Vidal

Anybody who is stupid enough to want to be remembered deserves to be forgotten right now.
– Gore Vidal

The United States is a madhouse.
– Gore Vidal

Actually, I can’t remember when I was not writing.
– Gore Vidal

It is always a delicate matter, when a friend or acquaintance becomes president.
– Gore Vidal

History is nothing but gossip about the past, with the hope that it might be true.
– Gore Vidal

As for civil liberties, any one who is not vigilant may one day find himself living, if not in a police state, at least in a police city.
– Gore Vidal