Don't ever make the mistake with people like me thinking we are looking for heroes. There aren't any and if there were, they would be killed immediately. I'm never surprised by bad behaviour. I expect it.
Gore VidalIn America, the race goes to the loud, the solemn, the hustler. If you think you're a great writer, you must say that you are.
Gore VidalYou hear all this whining going on, "Where are our great writers?" The thing I might feel doleful about is: Where are the readers?
Gore VidalMany writers who choose to be active in the world lose not virtue but time, and that stillness without which literature cannot be made.
Gore VidalThe American press exists for one purpose only, and that is to convince Americans that they are living in the greatest and most envied country in the history of the world. The Press tells the American people how awful every other country is and how wonderful the United States is and how evil communism is and how happy they should be to have freedom to buy seven different sorts of detergent.
Gore Vidal