Writing of history is our only heuristic principle. The Germans have a word for it, einfรผhlen. 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.
Gore VidalWe have a great deal to learn from Scandinavia and a great deal to be alarmed at from the Mediterranean.
Gore VidalI do not much care for nature, and believe that flowers belong in vases rather than loose and untidy on the ground.
Gore VidalCome to me and show me a small cancer and I'll tell you you've got a small cancer that should be cut out. That's realism but in America it's called cynicism.
Gore VidalThe last best hope of earth, two trillion dollars in debt, is spinning out of control, and all we can do is stare at a flickering cathode-ray tube as Ollie answers questions on TV while the press, resolutely irrelevant as ever, asks politicians if they have committed adultery. From V-J Day 1945 to this has been, my fellow countrymen, a perfect nightmare.
Gore Vidal