Jerome Charyn Quotes
'Empire of Self' is a loving portrait of a very difficult man. Jay Parini, himself a gifted novelist, poet and biographer, has gone very deep into the 'black energy' of Gore Vidal's relentless narcissism and megalomania. Parini envisions an epic battle between Vidal's angelic and demonic sides, yet there's very little of the angel in Vidal.
Quotes to Explore
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I think chalking up human behavior to evil lets us all off the hook too easily.
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A lot of writers, especially crime writers, have an image that we think we're trying to keep up with. You've got to be seen as dark and slightly dangerous. But I'm not like that and I've realised that I don't need to put that on. People will buy the books whether they see a photo of you dressed in black or not.
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In 1980, shortly before my 11th birthday, I wrote my first essay in English.
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I'm not a collector. I toss things out all the time.
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What role should religion play in the American public school classroom? My own knee-jerk response would be, 'none whatsoever,' but the Constitution isn't quite so direct on the subject.
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I know people think that a lot of sports stars are a little bit up themselves, but they all have their heroes, too.
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I've never necessarily chosen to be a bachelor. I've had girlfriends throughout the last 20 or 30 years. It's just that there were times when I met people that fascinated me and times I didn't.
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I went from a player who was never fit to a person who actually worked hard to get myself in shape.
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Allowing adult children who live at home who are in between jobs to stay on their parents' health care, I think that's a lot of Republican support for that, with or without Obamacare.
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Jail is definitely not cool. Education is.
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Part of the reason I sort of shot out like a cannon out of Michigan and left home at such an early age is because I had to feel independent.
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The one thing that I've always kind of had, ever since I was a kid, was that I lack a certain degree of self-consciousness, which is alternately good and bad.
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There's something troubling about a condition in which one country alone, which has roughly 5 percent of the world's population, spends more than 50 percent of the world's defense budgets. There's something weird about it.
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'Breakfast at Tiffany's' isn't a great movie because Audrey Hepburn is brilliant and everyone else isn't. It's a great movie because everybody is fascinating, and she is at the center of it being amazing.
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'Idol' was groundbreaking television. I am very fortunate to have won the show at the time. 'Idol' changed my life, and I am thankful.
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Survival requires us to leave our prejudices at home. It's about doing whatever it takes - and ultimately those with the biggest heart will win.
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I always consider Shakespeare like a huge room. I mean, you open the door, and you can go anywhere.
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Kids are naturally gifted at art from a very young age. The problem is when they get older and become self-conscious. The process should always be fun, though.
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Don't try to dress like me or wear your hair like mine. Find your own style.
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Parents are supposed to give the child back to herself with love. If they've got duct tape over their eyes because of narcissism, it doesn't happen.
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I don't know what 'genius' even means. It's just a matter of keeping your eye on the ball.
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I get sick all the time because I get no rest and sleep, but it's definitely worth it.
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The State is the curse of the individual... The State must go! That will be a revolution which will find me on its side. Undermine the idea of the State, set up in its place spontaneous action, and the idea that spiritual relationship is the only thing that makes for unity, and you will start the elements of a liberty which will be something worth possessing.
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'Empire of Self' is a loving portrait of a very difficult man. Jay Parini, himself a gifted novelist, poet and biographer, has gone very deep into the 'black energy' of Gore Vidal's relentless narcissism and megalomania. Parini envisions an epic battle between Vidal's angelic and demonic sides, yet there's very little of the angel in Vidal.
