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.
Gore VidalSoutherners make good novelists: they have so many stories because they have so much family.
Gore VidalI came out of Capitol Hill. Well, that's just not an ordinary background for a writer of the ordinary American sort.
Gore VidalWhether you have an abortion, what you put in your own body, with whom you have sex - these are not affairs of the state. A government does not exist to control the citizens. When it does, it is a tyranny, and must be fought. The tree of liberty, Jefferson warned us, must be refreshed with the blood of tyrants and patriots.
Gore Vidal