Democracy is something America has never really practiced. Because the Founding Fathers hated two things: monarchy and democracy. They wanted a republic, a replica of the Roman or Venetian republics. They didn't even like the etymology of the word "democracy."
Gore VidalI write in the morning at a table, longhand on yellow legal pads, just like Nixon, when Iām doing fiction.
Gore VidalAltruism is a brief phase through which some adolescents must pass. It is rather like acne. Happily, as with acne, only a few are permanently scarred.
Gore Vidal