Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Vidal admits that he feels a personal sense of loss when a friend achieves success.
- In plain terms
- He says he cannot help feeling bad when his friends do well.
- What can you take from it?
- Personal insecurity can cause resentment of others' success.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you handle friends' success?
- Why do we compare ourselves?
Another view
Not everyone feels this way; many celebrate friends genuinely.
More from Gore Vidal
We have ceased to be a nation under law but instead a homeland where the withered Bill of Rights, like a dead trumpet vine, clings to our pseudo-Roman columns.
Permalink to quote #43 Envy is the central fact of American life.
Permalink to quote #45 Happily for the busy lunatics who rule over us, we are permanently the United States of Amnesia. We learn nothing because we remember nothing.
Permalink to quote #42
Related quotes
I'm an egomaniac with an inferiority complex.
Eric ClaptonEric Clapton quote #7 Frank Harris has no feelings. It is the secret of his success. Just as the fact that he thinks other people have none either is the secret of the failure that …
Frank HarrisFrank Harris quote #7 No-one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend.
Groucho MarxGroucho Marx quote #9