"To a man, ornithologists are tall, slender, and bearded so that they can stand motionless for hours, imitating kindly trees, as they watch for birds."
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Quote collection
Gore Vidal quotes (page 11 of 23)
457 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"It is ironic that a nation that has never experienced a coup d'etat should be so obsessed with the idea of conspiracy."
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"Now you have people in Washington who have no interest in the country at all. They're interested in their companies, their corporations grabbing Caspian oil."
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"That is sad until one recalls how many bad books the world may yet be spared because of the busyness of writers."
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"Precocious talents mature slowly if at all."
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"When you control opinion, as corporate America controls opinion in the United States by owning the media, you can make the masses believe almost anything you want, and guide them as you please."
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"When anyone says to me, 'Can you keep a secret?' I say, 'Why should I, if you can't?'"
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"The problem with most Americans is that they don't like any question that takes more than ten seconds to answer."
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"The people are not stupid, but they are totally misinformed."
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"Never offend an enemy in a small way."
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"Our rulers for more than half a century have made sure that we are never to be told the truth about anything that our government has done to other people, not to mention our own."
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"Half the American population no longer reads newspapers: plainly, they are the clever half."
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"Writing of history is our only heuristic principle. The Germans have a word for it, einfühlen. It is the ability to experience the past in the present and to recreate it. In my books, I have tried to recreate it in the most natural way possible: History must be integrated into the story without the weight of premonition."
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"The United States is my subject, but as Hawthorne once wrote, "the United States are suited for many admirable purposes, but not to live in.""
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"It is notable how little empathy is cultivated or valued in our society. I put this down to our traditional racism and obsessive sectarianism. Even so, one would think that we would be encouraged to project ourselves into the character of someone of a different race or class, if only to be able to control him. But no effort is made."
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"What we are is seldom what we want to be, while what we want to be is either denied us or changes with the seasons."
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"If you're not part of that club, as I certainly am not, you are not presidential."
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"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."
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"It is not enough merely to win; others must lose."
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"Somebody has to keep score and I decided I was going to do it. I'm a born score-keeper and I realize, like an umpire, that my decisions may cause distress."
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