Having no contemporaries left means you cannot say, 'Well, so-and-so will like this,' which you do when you're younger. You realize there is no so-and-so anymore. You are your own so-and-so. There is a bleak side to it.
Interpretation
As we age and lose our peers, we must rely on our own judgments and preferences without seeking external validation.
Gore Vidal's quote reflects the notion that as we grow older, especially when we lose contemporaries, we face a deeper sense of solitude. This solitude brings both an empowering realization that we no longer seek approval or companionship from others when expressing ourselves, yet it also carries a somber acknowledgement of isolation, as we become solely responsible for our perspectives and tastes. In doing so, we transition from valuing external opinions to embracing our individuality.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a retirement speech to reflect on personal growth.
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
An army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength and strikes weakness.
The main object of religion is not to get a man into heaven, but to get heaven into him.
I am on fire within._x000D_ There comes no murmur of reply._x000D_ What is it that will take away my sin,_x000D_ And save me lest I die?
Can we ring the bells backward? Can we unlearn the arts that pretend to civilize, and then burn the world? There is a march of science; but who shall beat the drums for its retreat?
Physically robust infrastructure is not enough if it fails to foster a healthy community; ultimately, all infrastructure is social.
One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time.
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