Nothing human is finally calculable; even to ourselves we are strange.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that human nature is complex and unpredictable, even to ourselves.
Gore Vidal's quote highlights the inherent unpredictability of human behavior and the complexities of self-knowledge. It implies that despite our attempts to understand and quantify human actions and motivations, there remains an element of strangeness that defies calculation, underscoring the intricacies of individuality and the mysterious aspects of our own identities that we may never fully comprehend.
In practice
In a philosophy class discussing the nature of humanity, this quote can be used to illustrate the complexities of self-perception.
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.
We all have people who are literally one life shock away from going into a crisis. For many of us, we have a buffer in one way or another. We have a savings account, or we have credit that we can go to. The underserved don't have that luxury.
The heart is just the heart; thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be just as they are.
Modern war appears as a struggle led by all the State apparatuses and their general staffs against all men old enough to bear arms.
The liberty of man consists solely in this, that he obeys the laws of nature because he has himself recognized them as such, and not because they have been imposed upon him externally by any foreign will whatsoever, human or divine, collective or individual.
Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.
All misery and pain come from attachment.
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