“Envy is the central fact of American life.”

—  Gore Vidal

"Gore Vidal," interview by Gerald Clarke (1974), The Paris Review Interviews: Writers at Work, 5th series (1981)
1970s

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Envy is the central fact of American life." by Gore Vidal?
Gore Vidal photo
Gore Vidal 163
American writer 1925–2012

Related quotes

Aeschylus photo

“Life envy-free is life unenviable.”

Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, line 939 (tr. Anna Swanwick)

Theodore Roosevelt photo

“I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Address in Des Moines, Iowa (4 November 1910)
1910s

“I really envy the members of the production departments of American movie studios. Their ideas are better, and they are given much more time to work on films.”

Kenpachiro Satsuma (1947) Japanese actor

As quoted by David Milner, "Kenpachiro Satsuma Interview I" http://www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/satsum.htm, Kaiju Conversations (December 1993)

“The free electoral process is one of the things that outsiders envy most about this country. The distinctly American two-party system is perpetuated through that process.”

Scribd:Robert Agresta Inauguration speech Quoted in Mayor & Council Meeting of January 2009 http://www.scribd.com/full/54569111?access_key=key-11gd71r31loly41co5n5

Thomas Wolfe photo
Boris Sidis photo

“Self-preservation is the central aim of all life-activities.”

Boris Sidis (1867–1923) American psychiatrist

Source: Nervous Ills their Cause and Cure (1922), p. 20

Nassim Nicholas Taleb photo

“This is the central illusion in life: that randomness is a risk, that it is a bad thing …”

Source: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (2012), p. 84

Thiago Silva photo

“Thiago Silva will extend my life as a central defender.”

Thiago Silva (1984) Brazilian footballer

Alessandro Nesta, 2009 http://www.milannews.it/primo-piano/ecco-thiago-ha-studiato-col-prof-maldini-21545
From former and current footballers

Related topics