--- title: "32 Ifs Quotes By Gore Vidal" description: "32 Ifs quotes by Gore Vidal. Plus more from Gore Vidal and more Ifs sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/gore-vidal-466_audience_if-satire-is-to-be-effective-the-audienc_1334599.jpg" --- > [If satire is to be effective, the audience must be aware of the thing satirized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-satire-is-to-be-effective-the-audience-must-be-aware-of-the-thing/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/gore-vidal-466_audience_if-satire-is-to-be-effective-the-audienc_1334599.jpg) > [If you're not part of that club, as I certainly am not, you are not presidential.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-you-re-not-part-of-that-club-as-i-certainly-am-not-you-are-not/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b13/gore-vidal-466_certainly_if-you-re-not-part-of-that-club-as-i-cer_3192441.jpg) > [When anyone says to me, 'Can you keep a secret?' I say, 'Why should I, if you can't?'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/when-anyone-says-to-me-can-you-keep-a-secret-i-say-why-should-i-if/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/gore-vidal-466_ifs_when-anyone-says-to-me-can-you-keep-a-se_1341458.jpg) > [Precocious talents mature slowly if at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/precocious-talents-mature-slowly-if-at-all/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dff/gore-vidal-466_ifs_precocious-talents-mature-slowly-if-at-a_3234645.jpg) > [If you want to rise in politics in the United States, there is one subject you must stay away from, and that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-you-want-to-rise-in-politics-in-the-united-states-there-is-one/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/679/gore-vidal-466_ifs_if-you-want-to-rise-in-politics-in-the-u_2488857.jpg) > [ If \[drugs\] didn't exist, our government would have to invent them, the better to enact laws aimed at keeping the citizens "sinless… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-drugs-didn-t-exist-our-government-would-have-to-invent-them-the/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ee/gore-vidal-466_citizens_if-drugs-didn-t-exist-our-government-wou_3228324.jpg) > [If you are at the mercy of what they call print interviews and the mercy of people who write about you, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-you-are-at-the-mercy-of-what-they-call-print-interviews-and-the/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8ba/gore-vidal-466_compassion_if-you-are-at-the-mercy-of-what-they-cal_1849238.jpg) > [Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/every-four-years-the-naive-half-who-vote-are-encouraged-to-believe/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b30/gore-vidal-466_believe_every-four-years-the-naive-half-who-vote_660902.jpg) > [Great critics do not explicate a text; they describe it and then report on what they have described, if the description itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/great-critics-do-not-explicate-a-text-they-describe-it-and-then/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a7/gore-vidal-466_critic_great-critics-do-not-explicate-a-text-th_784633.jpg) > [Sex is a continuum. You go through different phases along life's way... and if you don't, you've been sort of cheated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/sex-is-a-continuum-you-go-through-different-phases-along-life-s-way/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c94/gore-vidal-466_bisexuality_sex-is-a-continuum-you-go-through-differ_48477.jpg) > [I'm not for real revolutions, because they always bring you the opposite of what you want. You very seldom get what you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-m-not-for-real-revolutions-because-they-always-bring-you-the/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b6c/gore-vidal-466_ifs_i-m-not-for-real-revolutions-because-the_2396627.jpg) > [I am a correctionist. If something is wrong in society, it must be fixed. At least one should try to fix it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-am-a-correctionist-if-something-is-wrong-in-society-it-must-be/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ee/gore-vidal-466_fixed_i-am-a-correctionist-if-something-is-wro_722285.jpg) > [Drugs. If they did not exist our governors would have invented them in order to prohibit them and so make much of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/drugs-if-they-did-not-exist-our-governors-would-have-invented-them-in/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c71/gore-vidal-466_drug_drugs-if-they-did-not-exist-our-governor_406804.jpg) > [At a certain age, you have to live near good medical care — if, that is, you're going to continue. You always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/at-a-certain-age-you-have-to-live-near-good-medical-care-if-that-is/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75c/gore-vidal-466_age_at-a-certain-age-you-have-to-live-near-g_2933708.jpg) > [We're supposed to procreate and society, god knows, is ferocious on the subject. Heterosexuality is considered such a great and natural good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/we-re-supposed-to-procreate-and-society-god-knows-is-ferocious-on-the/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b2/gore-vidal-466_glorious_we-re-supposed-to-procreate-and-society_2883087.jpg) > [Since no one can ever know for certain whether or not his own view of life is the correct one, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/since-no-one-can-ever-know-for-certain-whether-or-not-his-own-view-of/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/205/gore-vidal-466_certain_since-no-one-can-ever-know-for-certain-w_345191.jpg) > [It is notable how little empathy is cultivated or valued in our society. I put this down to our traditional racism and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/it-is-notable-how-little-empathy-is-cultivated-or-valued-in-our/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/083/gore-vidal-466_able_it-is-notable-how-little-empathy-is-cult_376818.jpg) > [If you're a critic of the rulers of the United States, you are either demonized, or you are trivialized by the press,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-you-re-a-critic-of-the-rulers-of-the-united-states-you-are-either/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ea/gore-vidal-466_critics_if-you-re-a-critic-of-the-rulers-of-the_3202922.jpg) > [I like the distance that Europe gives me. Also if I stayed in America I'd be a full-time politician and have no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-like-the-distance-that-europe-gives-me-also-if-i-stayed-in-america/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/gore-vidal-466_america_i-like-the-distance-that-europe-gives-me_954650.jpg) > [I would be literally patrician in the sense that the senators in ancient Rome were called conscript fathers, paters, from which comes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-would-be-literally-patrician-in-the-sense-that-the-senators-in/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d6/gore-vidal-466_ancient_i-would-be-literally-patrician-in-the-se_1962816.jpg) > [Although drugs are immoral and must be kept from the young, thousands of schools pressure parents to give the drug Ritalin to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/although-drugs-are-immoral-and-must-be-kept-from-the-young-thousands/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a90/gore-vidal-466_aggression_although-drugs-are-immoral-and-must-be-k_1042318.jpg) > [Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/every-four-years-the-naive-half-who-vote-are-encouraged-to-believe-2/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/678/gore-vidal-466_able_every-four-years-the-naive-half-who-vote_3219367.jpg) > [The last best hope of earth, two trillion dollars in debt, is spinning out of control, and all we can do is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-last-best-hope-of-earth-two-trillion-dollars-in-debt-is-spinning/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/620/gore-vidal-466_adultery_the-last-best-hope-of-earth-two-trillion_877291.jpg) > [The period of Prohibition - called the noble experiment - brought on the greatest breakdown of law and order the United States…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-period-of-prohibition-called-the-noble-experiment-brought-on-the/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/294/gore-vidal-466_able_the-period-of-prohibition-called-the-nob_663381.jpg) > [You will be favorable to Burr, and so must fail, because the American reader cannot bear a surprise. He knows that this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/you-will-be-favorable-to-burr-and-so-must-fail-because-the-american/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e57/gore-vidal-466_attention_you-will-be-favorable-to-burr-and-so-mus_1172079.jpg) > [At least when the Emperor Justinian, a sky-god man, decided to outlaw sodomy, he had to come up with a good practical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/at-least-when-the-emperor-justinian-a-sky-god-man-decided-to-outlaw/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/gore-vidal-466_areas_at-least-when-the-emperor-justinian-a-sk_2224490.jpg) > [If the splitter of hairs has a sharp enough knife, the fact of life itself can be chopped into nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-the-splitter-of-hairs-has-a-sharp-enough-knife-the-fact-of-life/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ccc/gore-vidal-466_enough_if-the-splitter-of-hairs-has-a-sharp-eno_384426.jpg) > [ \[ New York \] is a place that worships incompetence particularly if it's combined with energy and paranoid self-confidence. Only in a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/new-york-is-a-place-that-worships-incompetence-particularly-if-it-s/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95c/gore-vidal-466_cities_new-york-is-a-place-that-worships-incomp_2112370.jpg) > [We were to be forever at war with somebody. We were going to fight communism everywhere on earth even if it didn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/we-were-to-be-forever-at-war-with-somebody-we-were-going-to-fight/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fa/gore-vidal-466_communism_we-were-to-be-forever-at-war-with-somebo_2488709.jpg) > [I went to Europe to live in 1961. I'd never have written Julian if it hadn't been for the sequestered life that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-went-to-europe-to-live-in-1961-i-d-never-have-written-julian-if-it/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/561/gore-vidal-466_academy_i-went-to-europe-to-live-in-1961-i-d-nev_689059.jpg) > [The word 'radical' derives from the Latin word for root. Therefore, if you want to get to the root of anything you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-word-radical-derives-from-the-latin-word-for-root-therefore-if/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ae/gore-vidal-466_accidents_the-word-radical-derives-from-the-latin_1914134.jpg) > [Don't ever make the mistake with people like me thinking we are looking for heroes. There aren't any and if there were,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/don-t-ever-make-the-mistake-with-people-like-me-thinking-we-are/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/567/gore-vidal-466_behaviour_don-t-ever-make-the-mistake-with-people_691000.jpg) ## Other authors on Ifs ## More by Gore Vidal > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/there-is-only-one-party-in-the-united-states-the-property-party-and/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Many people in the United States happen to believe that United States policy is wrong in Vietnam and the Vietcong are correct in wanting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/many-people-in-the-united-states-happen-to-believe-that-united-states/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [“It is curious how little interested we are in the sexual desires of those who do not attract us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/it-is-curious-how-little-interested-we-are-in-the-sexual-desires-of/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/this-separation-was-absolute-in-our-original-republic-but-the-sky/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/style-is-knowing-who-you-are-what-you-want-to-say-and-not-giving-a/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [The oligarchs think that the people are both dangerous and stupid. Their point is moot. But we do know that the oligarchs are a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-oligarchs-think-that-the-people-are-both-dangerous-and-stupid/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [It is curious how often one prefers his enemies to his friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/it-is-curious-how-often-one-prefers-his-enemies-to-his-friends/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/as-societies-grow-decadent-the-language-grows-decadent-too-words-are/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Rome ... at its most decadent, had never thought of hiring an actor to go through the motions of being an emperor while the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/rome-at-its-most-decadent-had-never-thought-of-hiring-an-actor-to-go/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [History is nothing but gossip about the past, with the hope that it might be true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/history-is-nothing-but-gossip-about-the-past-with-the-hope-that-it/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [The malady of civilized man is his knowledge of death. The good artist, like the wise man, addresses himself to life and invests with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-malady-of-civilized-man-is-his-knowledge-of-death-the-good-artist/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Sex is a continuum. You go through different phases along life's way... and if you don't, you've been sort of cheated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/sex-is-a-continuum-you-go-through-different-phases-along-life-s-way/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [All I want is that Americans still be able to read the alphabet in a hundred years. I am not very ambitious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/all-i-want-is-that-americans-still-be-able-to-read-the-alphabet-in-a/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [I do not admire 'the people,' as such. No one really does. Their folk wisdom is usually false, their instincts predatory. Even their sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-do-not-admire-the-people-as-such-no-one-really-does-their-folk/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [“One of the problems of a society as tightly controlled as ours is that we get so little information about what those of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/one-of-the-problems-of-a-society-as-tightly-controlled-as-ours-is/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/gore-vidal/#itemlist", "name": "32 Ifs Quotes By Gore Vidal", "numberOfItems": 32, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If satire is to be effective, the audience must be aware of the thing satirized.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-satire-is-to-be-effective-the-audience-must-be-aware-of-the-thing/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/gore-vidal-466_audience_if-satire-is-to-be-effective-the-audienc_1334599.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/gore-vidal-466_audience_if-satire-is-to-be-effective-the-audienc_1334599.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/gore-vidal-466_audience_if-satire-is-to-be-effective-the-audienc_1334599.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If satire is to be effective, the audience must be aware of the thing satirized.” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If you're not part of that club, as I certainly am not, you are not presidential.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-you-re-not-part-of-that-club-as-i-certainly-am-not-you-are-not/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b13/gore-vidal-466_certainly_if-you-re-not-part-of-that-club-as-i-cer_3192441.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b13/gore-vidal-466_certainly_if-you-re-not-part-of-that-club-as-i-cer_3192441.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b13/gore-vidal-466_certainly_if-you-re-not-part-of-that-club-as-i-cer_3192441.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If you're not part of that club, as I certainly am not, you are not presidential.” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When anyone says to me, 'Can you keep a secret?' 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But it won't be.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/every-four-years-the-naive-half-who-vote-are-encouraged-to-believe/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b30/gore-vidal-466_believe_every-four-years-the-naive-half-who-vote_660902.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b30/gore-vidal-466_believe_every-four-years-the-naive-half-who-vote_660902.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b30/gore-vidal-466_believe_every-four-years-the-naive-half-who-vote_660902.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or…” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Great critics do not explicate a text; they describe it and then report on what they have described, if the description itself is not the criticism.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/great-critics-do-not-explicate-a-text-they-describe-it-and-then/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a7/gore-vidal-466_critic_great-critics-do-not-explicate-a-text-th_784633.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a7/gore-vidal-466_critic_great-critics-do-not-explicate-a-text-th_784633.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a7/gore-vidal-466_critic_great-critics-do-not-explicate-a-text-th_784633.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Great critics do not explicate a text; they describe it and then report on what they have described, if the…” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Sex is a continuum. 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If they did not exist our governors would have invented them in order to prohibit them and so make much of the population vulnerable to arrest, imprisonment, seizure of property, and so on.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/drugs-if-they-did-not-exist-our-governors-would-have-invented-them-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c71/gore-vidal-466_drug_drugs-if-they-did-not-exist-our-governor_406804.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c71/gore-vidal-466_drug_drugs-if-they-did-not-exist-our-governor_406804.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c71/gore-vidal-466_drug_drugs-if-they-did-not-exist-our-governor_406804.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Drugs. 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You always have the option of not continuing, which, I fear, is sometimes nobler.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/at-a-certain-age-you-have-to-live-near-good-medical-care-if-that-is/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75c/gore-vidal-466_age_at-a-certain-age-you-have-to-live-near-g_2933708.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75c/gore-vidal-466_age_at-a-certain-age-you-have-to-live-near-g_2933708.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75c/gore-vidal-466_age_at-a-certain-age-you-have-to-live-near-g_2933708.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“At a certain age, you have to live near good medical care — if, that is, you're going to continue. 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Also if I stayed in America I'd be a full-time politician and have no time for writing, which is why I went to Europe to live in 1961.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-like-the-distance-that-europe-gives-me-also-if-i-stayed-in-america/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/gore-vidal-466_america_i-like-the-distance-that-europe-gives-me_954650.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/gore-vidal-466_america_i-like-the-distance-that-europe-gives-me_954650.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/gore-vidal-466_america_i-like-the-distance-that-europe-gives-me_954650.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I like the distance that Europe gives me. 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So if you come from a senatorial family, you are literally patrician in that sense, but that doesn't mean that you couldn't be Billy Carter, you know, of recent memory.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-would-be-literally-patrician-in-the-sense-that-the-senators-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d6/gore-vidal-466_ancient_i-would-be-literally-patrician-in-the-se_1962816.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d6/gore-vidal-466_ancient_i-would-be-literally-patrician-in-the-se_1962816.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d6/gore-vidal-466_ancient_i-would-be-literally-patrician-in-the-se_1962816.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I would be literally patrician in the sense that the senators in ancient Rome were called conscript fathers…” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 21, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Although drugs are immoral and must be kept from the young, thousands of schools pressure parents to give the drug Ritalin to any lively child who may, sensibly, show signs of boredom in his classroom. Ritalin renders the child docile if not comatose. Side effects? \"Stunted growth, facial tics, agitation and aggression, insomnia, appetite loss, headaches, stomach pains and seizures.\" Marijuana would be far less harmful.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/although-drugs-are-immoral-and-must-be-kept-from-the-young-thousands/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a90/gore-vidal-466_aggression_although-drugs-are-immoral-and-must-be-k_1042318.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a90/gore-vidal-466_aggression_although-drugs-are-immoral-and-must-be-k_1042318.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a90/gore-vidal-466_aggression_although-drugs-are-immoral-and-must-be-k_1042318.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Although drugs are immoral and must be kept from the young, thousands of schools pressure parents to give…” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 22, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or woman President everything will be all right. But it won't be. Any individual who is able to raise $25 million to be considered presidential is not going to be much use to the people at large. He will represent oil, or aerospace, or banking, or whatever moneyed entities are paying for him. Certainly he will never represent the people of the country, and they know it. Hence, the sense of despair throughout the land as incomes fall, businesses fail and there is no redress.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/every-four-years-the-naive-half-who-vote-are-encouraged-to-believe-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/678/gore-vidal-466_able_every-four-years-the-naive-half-who-vote_3219367.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/678/gore-vidal-466_able_every-four-years-the-naive-half-who-vote_3219367.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/678/gore-vidal-466_able_every-four-years-the-naive-half-who-vote_3219367.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or…” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 23, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The 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.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-last-best-hope-of-earth-two-trillion-dollars-in-debt-is-spinning/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/620/gore-vidal-466_adultery_the-last-best-hope-of-earth-two-trillion_877291.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/620/gore-vidal-466_adultery_the-last-best-hope-of-earth-two-trillion_877291.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/620/gore-vidal-466_adultery_the-last-best-hope-of-earth-two-trillion_877291.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The last best hope of earth, two trillion dollars in debt, is spinning out of control, and all we can do is…” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 24, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The period of Prohibition - called the noble experiment - brought on the greatest breakdown of law and order the United States has known until today. I think there is a lesson here. Do not regulate the private morals of people. Do not tell them what they can take or not take. Because if you do, they will become angry and antisocial and they will get what they want from criminals who are able to work in perfect freedom because they have paid off the police.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-period-of-prohibition-called-the-noble-experiment-brought-on-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/294/gore-vidal-466_able_the-period-of-prohibition-called-the-nob_663381.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/294/gore-vidal-466_able_the-period-of-prohibition-called-the-nob_663381.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/294/gore-vidal-466_able_the-period-of-prohibition-called-the-nob_663381.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The period of Prohibition - called the noble experiment - brought on the greatest breakdown of law and order…” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 25, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "You will be favorable to Burr, and so must fail, because the American reader cannot bear a surprise. He knows that this is the greatest country on earth, Washington the greatest man that ever lived, Burr the wickedest, and evidence to the contrary is not admissible. That means no inconvenient facts, no new information. If you really want the reader's attention, you must flatter him. Make his prejudices your own. Tell him things he already knows. He will love your soundness.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/you-will-be-favorable-to-burr-and-so-must-fail-because-the-american/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e57/gore-vidal-466_attention_you-will-be-favorable-to-burr-and-so-mus_1172079.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e57/gore-vidal-466_attention_you-will-be-favorable-to-burr-and-so-mus_1172079.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e57/gore-vidal-466_attention_you-will-be-favorable-to-burr-and-so-mus_1172079.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You will be favorable to Burr, and so must fail, because the American reader cannot bear a surprise. 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But our sky-godders, always eager to hate, still quote Leviticus, as if that looney text had anything useful to say about anything except, perhaps, the inadvisability of eating shellfish in the Jerusalem area.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/at-least-when-the-emperor-justinian-a-sky-god-man-decided-to-outlaw/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/gore-vidal-466_areas_at-least-when-the-emperor-justinian-a-sk_2224490.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/gore-vidal-466_areas_at-least-when-the-emperor-justinian-a-sk_2224490.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/gore-vidal-466_areas_at-least-when-the-emperor-justinian-a-sk_2224490.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“At least when the Emperor Justinian, a sky-god man, decided to outlaw sodomy, he had to come up with a good…” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 27, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If the splitter of hairs has a sharp enough knife, the fact of life itself can be chopped into nothing.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-the-splitter-of-hairs-has-a-sharp-enough-knife-the-fact-of-life/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ccc/gore-vidal-466_enough_if-the-splitter-of-hairs-has-a-sharp-eno_384426.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ccc/gore-vidal-466_enough_if-the-splitter-of-hairs-has-a-sharp-eno_384426.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ccc/gore-vidal-466_enough_if-the-splitter-of-hairs-has-a-sharp-eno_384426.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If the splitter of hairs has a sharp enough knife, the fact of life itself can be chopped into nothing.” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 28, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "[ New York ] is a place that worships incompetence particularly if it's combined with energy and paranoid self-confidence. Only in a city like New York could Truman Capote have made it, or John Simon.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/new-york-is-a-place-that-worships-incompetence-particularly-if-it-s/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95c/gore-vidal-466_cities_new-york-is-a-place-that-worships-incomp_2112370.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95c/gore-vidal-466_cities_new-york-is-a-place-that-worships-incomp_2112370.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95c/gore-vidal-466_cities_new-york-is-a-place-that-worships-incomp_2112370.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“[ New York ] is a place that worships incompetence particularly if it's combined with energy and paranoid…” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 29, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We were to be forever at war with somebody. We were going to fight communism everywhere on earth even if it didn't threaten us. It was a holy war, just as we've made one on terrorism and Islam, equally stupid and equally irrelevant.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/we-were-to-be-forever-at-war-with-somebody-we-were-going-to-fight/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fa/gore-vidal-466_communism_we-were-to-be-forever-at-war-with-somebo_2488709.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fa/gore-vidal-466_communism_we-were-to-be-forever-at-war-with-somebo_2488709.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fa/gore-vidal-466_communism_we-were-to-be-forever-at-war-with-somebo_2488709.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We were to be forever at war with somebody. 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I'd never have written Julian if it hadn't been for the sequestered life that I led in Rome and the classical library at the America Academy.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-went-to-europe-to-live-in-1961-i-d-never-have-written-julian-if-it/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/561/gore-vidal-466_academy_i-went-to-europe-to-live-in-1961-i-d-nev_689059.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/561/gore-vidal-466_academy_i-went-to-europe-to-live-in-1961-i-d-nev_689059.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/561/gore-vidal-466_academy_i-went-to-europe-to-live-in-1961-i-d-nev_689059.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I went to Europe to live in 1961. 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It is no accident that the word has now been totally demonized...", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-word-radical-derives-from-the-latin-word-for-root-therefore-if/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ae/gore-vidal-466_accidents_the-word-radical-derives-from-the-latin_1914134.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ae/gore-vidal-466_accidents_the-word-radical-derives-from-the-latin_1914134.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ae/gore-vidal-466_accidents_the-word-radical-derives-from-the-latin_1914134.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The word 'radical' derives from the Latin word for root. 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