Quotes by Novelists

In August 1961, I visited President Kennedy at Hyannis Port. The Berlin Wall was going up, and he was about to begin a huge military buildup - reluctantly, or so he said, as he puffed on a cigar liberated by a friend from Castro's Cuba. Gore Vidal

History is nothing but gossip about the past, with the hope that it might be true. Gore Vidal

Hope History Gossip Be True Past Nothing About True Might

A narcissist is someone better looking than you are. Gore Vidal

You Better Looking Someone Better Looking Narcissist Than

There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise. Gore Vidal

People Problem Would Solved Could Simply Advise Human Which

McCain is significant in the sense that he has no significance at all on any subject. Gore Vidal

Sense Significance Significant He Subject Any McCain

Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies. Gore Vidal

Me Something Friend Dies Whenever Little Succeeds

Litigation takes the place of sex at middle age. Gore Vidal

Age Sex Takes Middle Middle Age Place Litigation

I was like everyone else when Obama was elected - optimistic. Gore Vidal

Else Everyone Everyone Else Obama Like Optimistic Elected

Envy is the central fact of American life. Gore Vidal

Life Envy Fact American Central American Life

Because there is no cosmic point to the life that each of us perceives on this distant bit of dust at the galaxy's edge... there is all the more reason for us to maintain in proper balance what we have here. Because there is nothing else. No thing. This is it. And quite enough, all in all. Gore Vidal

The media can't get anything straight. Gore Vidal

Get Anything Straight Media

Obama just came swiftly out of nowhere, which was a relief to those of us who care about the Republic, and at first he seemed a very good thing. Gore Vidal

I think there is an instinct out there to rid us of our masters. Gore Vidal

Think Our Out Instinct Masters Us Rid

The plastic virtues: purity, unity, and truth, keep nature in subjection. Guillaume Apollinaire

Truth Nature Unity Virtues Purity Subjection Plastic Keep

Puns are a form of humor with words. Guillermo Cabrera Infante

Words Humor Puns Form

The deplorable mania of doubt exhausts me. I doubt about everything, even my doubts. Gustave Flaubert

Me Doubt Everything About Mania Deplorable Doubts Even

Life must be a constant education; one must learn everything, from speaking to dying. Gustave Flaubert

Life Education Everything Must Constant Learn Dying Speaking

What an elder sees sitting; the young can't see standing. Gustave Flaubert

Young See Sees Sitting Elder Standing

Anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enough. Gustave Flaubert

You Long Enough Look Becomes Anything Interesting

Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings. Gustave Flaubert

Love Hope Love Is Plant Everything Ruins Springtime Which Even

The more humanity advances, the more it is degraded. Gustave Flaubert

Humanity Degraded More Advances

Read much, but not many books. Gustave Flaubert

Books Read Much Many