Imperial America Quotes

“The tragedy of the United States, thus far in this century, is not the crack-up of an empire, which we never knew what to do with in the first place, but the collapse of the idea of the citizen as someone autonomous whose private life is not subject to orders from above.”
― Gore Vidal, Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia

“Do not regulate the private lives of people because, if you do, they will become angry and antisocial, and they will get what they want from criminals who work in perfect freedom because they know how to pay off the police.”
― Gore Vidal, Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia

“I complain about the United States not being Athens. I certainly say we are a very good Roman republic, and the lies are based upon the most advanced techniques of advertising, which is the only art form my country has ever created—the television commercial—and we sell soap and presidents in the same fashion. Once a country is habituated to liars, it takes generations to bring the truth back.”
― Gore Vidal, Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia

“we no longer live in a nation, but in a Homeland.”
― Gore Vidal, Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia

“say very mildly, we have only one political party in the U.S., the Property Party, with two right wings, Republican and Democrat.”
― Gore Vidal, Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia