As Brooks Adams put it, the sole problem of our ruling class is whether to coerce or to bribe the powerless majority. — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
It is notable how little empathy is cultivated or valued in our society. I put this down to our traditional racism and… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
How to get people to vote against their interests and to really think against their interests is very clever. It's the cleverest… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
No reform ever came from the bottom, and it was always people who understood how the ruling class worked who turned out… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
The British are absolutely hung up on class, and whenever they start to really - class for the English is like sex… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
Most writers are middle-class and are the children of doctors or lawyers. — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
It doesn't actually make any difference whether the President is Republican or Democrat. The genius of the American ruling class is that… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
We must always remember that the police are recruited from the criminal classes. — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
Contrary to vulgar legend the lives of great ballerinas are not entirely given up to a few minutes of graceful movement every… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
I come from the highest class of all. I am a third-generation celebrity. — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
When you come from a family that has been political, and I was brought up by my grandfather in the Senate, my… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
You know, I've been around the ruling class all my life, and I've been quite aware of their total contempt for the… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
I find in most novels no imagination at all. They seem to think the highest form of the novel is to write… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
Class is the most difficult subject for American writers to deal with as it is the most difficult for the English to… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party...and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
Many people in the United States happen to believe that United States policy is wrong in Vietnam and the Vietcong are correct in wanting… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
“It is curious how little interested we are in the sexual desires of those who do not attract us.” — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
This separation was absolute in our original Republic. But the sky-godders do not give up easily. In the 1950s they actually got the phrase… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn. — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
The oligarchs think that the people are both dangerous and stupid. Their point is moot. But we do know that the oligarchs are a… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
Rome ... at its most decadent, had never thought of hiring an actor to go through the motions of being an emperor while the… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
History is nothing but gossip about the past, with the hope that it might be true. — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
The malady of civilized man is his knowledge of death. The good artist, like the wise man, addresses himself to life and invests with… — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
Sex is a continuum. You go through different phases along life's way... and if you don't, you've been sort of cheated. — Gore Vidal Copy Share Image
