Quotes From "Julian" By Gore Vidal

History is idle gossip about a happening whose truth is...
1
History is idle gossip about a happening whose truth is lost the instant it has taken place. Gore Vidal
2
The malice of a true Christian attempting to destroy an opponent is something unique in the world. No other religion ever considered it necessary to destroy others because they did not share the same beliefs. At worst, another man's belief might inspire amusement or contempt–the Egyptians and their animal gods, for instance. Yet those who worshipped the Bull did not try to murder those who worshipped the Snake, or to convert them by force from Snake to Bull. No evil ever entered the world quite so vividly or on such a vast scale as Christianity did. Gore Vidal
3
Even a child could see the division between what the Galileans [i.e., Christians] say they believe and what, in fact, they do believe, as demonstrated by their actions. A religion of brotherhood and mildness which daily murders those who disagree with its doctrines can only be thought hypocrite, or worse. Gore Vidal
4
But like so many others nowadays, poor Julian wanted to believe that man's life is profoundly more significant than it is. His sickness was the sickness of our age. We want so much not to be extinguished at the end that we will go to any length to make conjuror-tricks for one another simply to obscure the bitter, secret knowledge that it is our fate not to be. Gore Vidal
5
It is curious how little interested we are in the sexual desires of those who do not attract us. Gore Vidal
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...is not all philosophy but preparation for a serene dying? Gore Vidal
7
Since nothing is free, to each his price. Gore Vidal
8
A court is the most depressing place on earth. Wherever there is a throne, one may observe in rich detail every folly and wickedness of which man is capable, enameled with manners and gilded with hypocrisy. Gore Vidal
9
Heroes must see to their own fame. No one else will. Gore Vidal