Quotessence
Home / Books / Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia

Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia

Book by Gore Vidal · 4 quotes · Politics, Action, American President

Filter quotes by topic

AllPoliticsActionAmerican PresidentCorrectnessDisguiseElectionElection TimeEuphemismGoreGrowsLanguageLeaderPeoplePoliticalPresidentPropagandaUsedAbsolutesAmericaAmnesia

Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia Quotes

“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.”

LyingPoliticsLiesLiarsPolitical Chicanery
Book:Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia
Create image

“As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests.”

PeopleActionPoliticalUsedPoliticsLanguageGrowsInterestCitiesCommunicationVoteElectionPropagandaDestroyingDisguiseGorePolitical CorrectnessCorrectnessEuphemismElection Time
Book:Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia
Create image

“Our only political party has two right wings, one called Republican, the other Democratic. But Henry Adams figured all that out back in the 1890s. "We have a single system," he wrote, and "in that system the only question is the price at which the proletariat is to be bought and sold, the bread and circuses."”

TwoAmericaPoliticalPoliticsPartyRepublicanWingsDemocraticBreadPolitical PartiesCircusRight WingProletariatBread And Circuses
Book:Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia
Create image