The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return. - Gore Vidal
Prepare yourself for some bad news: Ronald Reagan’s library just burned down. Both books were destroyed. But the real horror: He hadn’t finished coloring either one of them. - Gore Vidal
Whenever a friend succeeds a little something in me dies. - Gore Vidal
I don't want prizes. I turned down the National Institute of Arts and Letters when I was elected to it in 1976 on the grounds that I already belonged to the Diner's Club. - Gore Vidal
Ultimately, totalitarianism is the only sort of politics that can truly serve the sky-god's purpose. Any movement of a liberal nature endangers his authority and that of his delegates on earth. One God, one King, one Pope, one master in the factory, one father-leader in the family at home. - Gore Vidal
I might be President by now if it weren't for this 'queer' thing - Gore Vidal
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself. - Gore Vidal
Presidents have absolutely gone against the will of Congress. Congress hasn't declared a war since December 7, 1941, and yet we've been at war ever since with somebody or other in order to justify the war machine. Now we have alienated almost the entire earth - Gore Vidal
It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail. - Gore Vidal
Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them either. - Gore Vidal
Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn. - Gore Vidal
For certain people after 50, litigation takes the place of sex. - 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
You can't really succeed with a novel anyway; they're too big. It's like city planning. You can't plan a perfect city because there's too much going on that you can't take into account. You can, however, write a perfect sentence now and then. I have. - Gore Vidal
The four most beautiful words in our common language: I told you so. - Gore Vidal
Always beware of the fact, that the only thing hindering an all out revolution is your fear of losing the scraps they throw at you.--Twitter post, July 29, 2012 - Gore Vidal
I’ve always said, ‘I have nothing to say, only to add.’ And it’s with each addition that the writing gets done. The first draft of anything is really just a track. - Gore Vidal
As the age of television progresses the Reagans will be the rule, not the exception. To be perfect for television is all a President has to be these days. - Gore Vidal
There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise. - Gore Vidal
Never have children, only grandchildren. - Gore Vidal
presidents, when not outright telling lies, feel obliged to shade the truth most of the time. This is called politics; when a president lies successfully, he is called a statesman. - Gore Vidal
I wanted to be a politician and a movie star. But I was born a writer. If you're born that, you can't change it. You're going to do it whether you want to or not. - Gore Vidal
Once people get hung up on theology, they've lost sanity forever. More people have been killed in the name of Jesus Christ than any other name in the history of the world. - Gore Vidal
By the time a man gets to be presidential material, he's been bought ten times over. - Gore Vidal
Never pass up a chance to have sex or appear on television. - Gore Vidal
For certain people after fifty, litigation takes the place of sex. - Gore Vidal
I sometimes think it is because they are so bad at expressing themselves verbally that writers take to pen and paper in the first place - Gore Vidal
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil. - Gore Vidal
It is of no consequence what others think of you. What matters is what you think of them. That is how you live your life. - Gore Vidal
Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half. - Gore Vidal
Television is now so desperately hungry for material that they're scraping the top of the barrel. - Gore Vidal
I can understand companionship. I can understand bought sex in the afternoon. I cannot understand the love affair. - Gore Vidal
Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. - Gore Vidal
I'm a born-again atheist. - Gore Vidal
As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests. - Gore Vidal
Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so. - Gore Vidal
Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little. - 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