“How marvelous books are, crossing worlds and centuries, defeating ignorance and, finally, cruel time itself.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“Traitors who prevail are patriots; usurpers who succeed are divine emperors.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“History is idle gossip about a happening whose truth is lost the instant it has taken place.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“Never offend an enemy in a small way.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“Nothing human is finally calculable; even to ourselves we are strange.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“How hungrily we read about ourselves!”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“We are given our place in time as we are given our eyes: weak, strong, clear, squinting, the thing is not ours to choose. Well, this has been a squinting, walleyed time to be born in.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“The malice of a true Christian attempting to destroy an opponent is something unique in the world. No other religion ever considered it necessary to destroy others because they did not share the same beliefs. At worst, another man's belief might inspire amusement or contempt—the Egyptians and their animal gods, for instance. Yet those who worshipped the Bull did not try to murder those who worshipped the Snake, or to convert them by force from Snake to Bull. No evil ever entered the world quite so vividly or on such a vast scale as Christianity did.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“Since nothing is free, to each his price.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“Heroes must see to their own fame. No one else will.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“No one can ever love us quite so much as we love ourselves.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“There are, then, three sorts of religious experiences. The ancient rites, which are essentially propitiatory. The mysteries, which purge the soul and allow us to glimpse eternity. And philosophy, which attempts to define not only the material world but to suggest practical ways to the good life, as well as attempting to synthesize (as Iamblichos does so beautifully) all true religion in a single comprehensive system.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“It is curious how little interested we are in the sexual desires of those who do not attract us.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“The rhetoric of hate is often most effective when couched in the idiom of love.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“On the throne of the world, any delusion can become fact.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“That's why Priscus is wisest of all: silence cannot be judged. Silence masks all things or no thing. Only Priscus can tell us what his silence conceals, but since he won't, we suspect him great.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“A court is the most depressing place on earth. Wherever there is a throne, one may observe in rich detail every folly and wickedness of which man is capable, enameled with manners and gilded with hypocrisy.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“They say that to know oneself is to know all there is that is human. But of course no one can ever know himself. Nothing human is fully calculable; even to ourselves we are strange.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“My memory plays me odd tricks these days [...] Age spares us nothing, old friend. Like ancient trees, we die from the top.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“After all, as educated men, we should realize that myths always stand for other things. They are toys for children teething. The man knows that the toy horse is not a true horse but merely suggests the idea of a horse to a baby's mind. When we pray before the statue of Zeus, though the statue contains him as everything must, the statue is not the god himself but only a suggestion of him. Surely, as fellow priests, we can be frank with one another about these grown-up matters.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“Like the rest of us, Constantius was many men in the body of one.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“Even a child could see the division between what the Galileans [i.e., Christians] say they believe and what, in fact, they do believe, as demonstrated by their actions. A religion of brotherhood and mildness which daily murders those who disagree with its doctrines can only be thought hypocrite, or worse.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
“Wo immer ein Thron ist, findet man in reicher Auswahl jede Torheit und jede Bosheit, deren der Mensch fähig ist, poliert mit guten Manieren und vergoldet mit Heuchelei.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Julian
Gore Vidal
Born place: in West Point, New York, The United States
Born date October 3, 1925
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“I was always desired. But now i am valued. And that is a different thing, i find.”
― Hilary Mantel, quote from Wolf Hall
“To people who think of themselves as God's houseguests, American enterprise must seem arrogant beyond belief. Or stupid. A nation of amnesiacs, proceeding as if there were no other day but today. Assuming the land could also forget what had been done to it.”
― Barbara Kingsolver, quote from Animal Dreams
“I know only one thing. when i sleep, i know no fear, no, trouble no bliss. blessing on him who invented sleep. the common coin that purchases all things, the balance that levels shepherd and king, fool and wise man. there is only one bad thing about sound sleep. they say it closely resembles death.”
― Stanisław Lem, quote from Solaris
“How many times have you told me you're a monster? So be a monster. Be the thing they all fear when they close their eyes at night.”
― Leigh Bardugo, quote from Crooked Kingdom
“Life is still life. It’s still tough, complicated, and more than a little messy, with lessons to be learned, mistakes to be made, triumphs and disappointments to be had, and not every day is meant to be a party.”
― Alyson Noel, quote from Dark Flame
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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.
