Gore Vidal quotes

“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.”

— Gore Vidal

“The four most beautiful words in our common language: I told you so.”

— Gore Vidal

“A good deed never goes unpunished.”

— Gore Vidal

“A narcissist is someone better looking than you are.”

— Gore Vidal

“Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.”

— 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

“Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little.”

— Gore Vidal

“I never miss a chance to have sex or appear on television.”

— Gore Vidal

“In writing and politicking, it's best not to think about it, just do it.”

— Gore Vidal

“It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.”

— Gore Vidal

“Never have children, only grandchildren.”

— Gore Vidal

“Sex is. There is nothing more to be done about it. Sex builds no roads, writes no novels and sex certainly gives no meaning to anything in life but itself.”

— Gore Vidal

“There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.”

— Gore Vidal

“Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. Either the host dies, or the virus dies, or both die.”

— Gore Vidal

“Write something, even if it's just a suicide note.”

— Gore Vidal