There is something about the state putting the power to bully into the hands of subnormal, sadistic apes that makes my blood boil.
Interpretation
This quote critiques the misuse of power by those who are unfit for it.
Gore Vidal's quote expresses frustration and anger at how power can fall into the hands of individuals who lack the moral integrity or capability to wield it responsibly. It highlights the dangers of a system that allows unqualified or cruel people to control and bully others, stirring a visceral reaction against such abuse of authority.
In practice
In a speech about political accountability, this quote can illustrate the dangers of unchecked power.
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.
And there you are on the shore, fitful and thoughtful, trying to attach them to an idea β some news of your own life. But the lilies are slippery and wildβthey are devoid of meaning, they are simply doing, from the deepest spurs of their being, what they are impelled to do every summer. And so, dear sorrow, are you.
There is a big difference between an honest mistake made in a moment of spiritual weakness and a willfull decision to disobey persistently the commandments of God. Those who deliberately choose to violate God's commandments or ignore the standards of the Church, even when promising themselves and others that someday they will be strong enough to repent, are stepping into a dangerously slippery slope upon which many have lost their spiritual footing.
Freedom is the one value conservatives place above all others, yet time and again, their ideal of freedom ignores the growing imbalance of power in our society that's eroding the freedoms of most people.
It is those pent-up, craving children who make all the wars and all the horrors and all the art and all the beauty and discovery in life, because they are trying to achieve what lay beyond their grasp before they were five years old.
The principle of contradiction establishes merely the agreement of concepts, but does not itself produce concepts.
He was a wise man who originated the idea of God.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.