I’m not sentimental about anything. Life flows by, and you flow with it or you don’t. Move on and move out.
Interpretation
Life is constantly changing, and one must adapt rather than cling to the past.
Gore Vidal's quote emphasizes the transient nature of life, suggesting that attachment to the past is futile. Instead, it encourages individuals to embrace change and flow with life's currents, advocating for resilience and the necessity of moving forward, both physically and emotionally.
In practice
During a motivational talk about overcoming adversity.
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.
The laws of history are as absolute as the laws of physics, and if the probabilities of error are greater, it is only because history does not deal with as many humans as physics does atoms, so that individual variations count for more.
Some false representations contravene the law; some do not. The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business, and, besides, could not be done. The line between honesty and dishonesty is a narrow, shifting one and usually lets those get by that are the most subtle and already have more than they can use.
A government is an institution that holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence.
I feel very strongly that I’m surrounded by other realities.
I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence. Everything that surrounds us- everything that exists - proves that there are infinite laws behind it. There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision.
There is no perfect virtue-none that bears fruit- unless it is exercised by means of our neighbor.
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