Envy is the central fact of American life.
Interpretation
Envy shapes social dynamics and attitudes in American culture.
Gore Vidal's statement on envy highlights its pervasive influence in American life, suggesting that feelings of jealousy and desire for what others have are central to understanding social interactions and behaviors in the society. This notion reflects on how envy can drive competition, create divides, and shape individuals' perceptions of success and happiness within a collective culture.
In practice
During a keynote speech, I mentioned, 'As Gore Vidal said, envy is the central fact of American life, reminding us to be aware of how jealousy affects our interactions and aspirations.
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 human ego prefers anything, just about anything, to falling, or changing, or dying. The ego is that part of you that loves the status quo β even when it's not working. It attaches to past and present and fears the future.
There are a lot of very brilliant people who believe that the nation-state is fast becoming a relic of the past.
Controlled hysteria is what's required. To exist constantly in a state of controlled hysteria. It's agony. But everyone has agony. The difference is that I try to take my agony home and teach it to sing.
Death is contagious; it is contracted the moment we are conceived.
I still believe that capitalism is too harsh and I believe that, even within that, there is a lot of satisfaction and beauty if you happen to be one of the lucky ones, although that doesn't eradicate the reality of the suffering. It's all true at once, kind of humming and sublime.
It is often argued that religion is valuable because it makes men good, but even if this were true it would not be a proof that religion is true. That would be an extension of pragmatism beyond endurance. Santa Claus makes children good in precisely the same way, and yet no one would argue seriously that the fact proves his existence. The defense of religion is full of such logical imbecilities.
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