Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidalwas an American writerand a public intellectual known for his patrician manner, epigrammatic wit, and polished style of writing...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth3 October 1925
CityWest Point, NY
CountryUnited States of America
men religion sometimes
Religions sprang up among men to deal with the sometimes terrifying aspects of existence, to make sense out of the senseless, to explain things we find inexplicable.
education teaching beer
Teaching has ruined more American novelists than drink.
writing brain
The brain that doesn't feed itself, eats itself.
children book grandmother
I was taught to read by my grandmother. Central to her method was a tale of unnatural love called 'The Duck and the Kangaroo'. Then, because my grandfather, Senator Gore, was blind, I was required early on to read grown-up books to him, mostly constitutional law and, of course, the Congressional Record. The later continence of my style is a miracle, considering those years of piping the additional remarks of Mr. Borah of Idaho.
want making-money admirable
U.S. certainly are not warlike. We don't want that. We want to make money, which I always thought was one of the most admirable things about Americans.
envy facts american-life
Envy is the central fact of American life.
country nonprofits belts
Nonprofit status is what created the Bible Belt. The tax code brought religion back to this country.
stupid thinking people
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.
reality games people
No one reads novels anymore. And I don't see the situation improving. People prefer video games, reality TV, and films. There are so many reasons now not to read novels.
accounts
There is no such thing as a true account of anything.
people forever sanity
Once people get hung up on theology, they've lost sanity forever.
thinking order law
The period of Prohibition - called the noble experiment - brought on the greatest breakdown of law and order the United States has known until today. I think there is a lesson here. Do not regulate the private morals of people. Do not tell them what they can take or not take. Because if you do, they will become angry and antisocial and they will get what they want from criminals who are able to work in perfect freedom because they have paid off the police.
writing people trying
I am a born novelist, which does not happen all that often. There are people who try to write for a certain time, then they become Ministers of Culture under de Gaulle, and they begin living their own fictions.
disaster minors majors
Those who have not undergone minor disasters are usually being held in reserve for something major