To preserve the human race, it is now necessary to reorganize society. To this end, an Authority must be created with the power to control human population, to redistribute food, to purify air, water, soil, to re-pattern the cities.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the need for a radical restructuring of society to ensure the survival of humanity.
Gore Vidal's quote highlights the urgent necessity for a new authoritative system aimed at addressing critical issues facing humanity, such as population control, environmental restoration, and urban planning. It suggests that to safeguard the future of the human race, society must undergo significant changes that will allow for the equitable distribution of resources and a more sustainable way of living.
In practice
During a panel discussion on climate change, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of societal transformation.
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.
Women have been trained to speak softly and carry a lipstick. Those days are over.
The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummerβs farce is almost done. My son is home.
A challenge so far-reaching in its impact and irreversible in its destructive power, that it alters radically human existence... There is no doubt that the time to act is now.
A flower is not better when it blooms than when it is merely a bud; at each stage it is the same thing β a flower in the process of expressing its potential.
That night I lie out under the stars again. The Pleiades are there winking at me. I am no longer on my way from one place to another. I have changed lives. My life now is as black and white as night and day; a life of fierce struggle under the sun, and peaceful reflection under the night sky. I feel as though I am floating on a raft far, far away from any world I ever knew.
Heal the world! Stop the hate. Lend a helping hand to those in need.
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