The City and the Pillar Quotes

“We affect one another quite enough merely by existing. Whenever the stars cross, or is it comets? fragments pass briefly from one orbit to another. On rare occasions there is total collision, but most often the two simply continue without incident, neither losing more than a particle to the other, in passing.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“Ideally, of course, a relationship is best, but then how many people are capable of deep feeling? Practically none.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“Of course his dust would be absorbed in other living things and to that degree at least he would exist again, though it was plain enough that the specific combination which was he would never exist again.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“Nothing that ever was changes. Yet nothing that is can ever be the same as what went before.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“Americans tend to play different roles, hoping that somehow they’ll stumble on the right one.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“Since they did not understand one another, each was able to sustain an illusion about the other, which was the usual beginning of love, if not truth.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“يبدو أن كثيرين من الجنوبيين يكتبون . ربما بسبب الحرب الأهلية . يجب الحصول على مأساة لكي نحصل على أدب .”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“عاد وحيداً و سعيداً ، مع ثلاثة كؤوسٍ موضوعةٍ أمامه على الطاوله : اثنان فارغان ، وواحد نصف مملوء و عليه آثار أحمر شفاه . رتَّبَ الكؤوس لتُشكِّلَ مثلثاً ، لكنه حين حاولَ ان يرتِّبها على شكلِ مربِّعٍ فشل . لماذا ؟ لأنَّ ثلاثة كؤوس يجب أن تكون قادرةً على تشكيلِ مربَّع . و شعر بالحزن .”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“As the late afternoon sun shone in Shaw's face and a soft flower-scented wind cooled him, his unhappiness turned to a detachment that was not at all unpleasant. He was utterly alone in the world. This knowledge thrilled him.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“Each affair began as though the creation of the world was to be reenacted, and each usually ended in less time than it took the Old Testament Creator to put up the sky. (62)”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“The idea of nothing frightened him, and death was probably nothing: no earth, no people, no light, no time, no thing.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“Yet finally, each was so perfectly dishonest that neither was able to feel the slightest regret at what was ending.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“Maria Verlaine era una donna strana, misteriosa, difficile da capire. [...] Per tutta la sua vita si era dedicata a desiderare e a inseguire quella completezza che ossessiona i romantici e disorienta gli altri. Passava di relazione in relazione, attratta dalle persone sensibili, delicate, impossibili. La sua immaginazione trasformava gli uomini più comuni in amanti di sogno, se l'occasione era giusta e la reazione adeguata. Ma con il tempo l'immaginazione si affievoliva. Si insinuava la realtà, e la relazione terminava, di solito con la fuga.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“Tutti sono bisessuali", disse l'uomo dai capelli grigi. "La società, il condizionamento precoce, la buona o la cattiva sorte - dipende da come ci è stato detto di considerarla - determinano il risultato. Nulla è 'giusto'. Solo la negazione dell'istinto è sbagliata".”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“Газеты писали, что в Европе идет война, но Джим так и не понял, в чем там собственно дело. Был какой-то тип — немец по фамилии Гитлер. У него были усы, и его постоянно передразнивали комики. На каждой вечеринке кто-нибудь непременно пародировал Гитлера, как тот произносит речь. Был еще и какой-то англичанин с усами попышнее, и, конечно, Муссолини, но тот вроде вообще не воевал. Какое-то время вокруг всех этих событий стояла шумиха, и дня не проходило, чтобы газеты об этом не писали. Но Джим к концу сентября потерял к войне всякий интерес. К тому же у него не было ни одной свободной минуты. Он обучал игре в теннис богатых мужчин и женщин, которые тоже не проявляли никакого интереса к войне.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“The fat man smiled. “But do you have the nerve to tell the world about yourself?” Paul sighed and looked at his hands. “No,” he said, “I don’t.” “So what can we do, if we’re all too frightened?” “Live with dignity, I suppose. And try to learn to love one another, as they say.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“Yolculuk garip şey, bir kez başladın mı bitiremiyorsun. Alkolizm gibi bir şey.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar

“Gözler kapalıyken, gerçek dünya başlar.”
― Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar