Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The desire to run for president disqualifies a candidate, implying ambition is incompatible with genuine leadership.
- In plain terms
- If you want to be president, you shouldn't be allowed to.
- What can you take from it?
- Ambition alone can invalidate leadership qualification.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What drives someone to seek power?
- Does wanting a job mean you are unfit for it?
Another view
It dismisses those driven by service rather than personal desire.
More from Gore Vidal
I wasn't like everyone, you know. What everyone did, I was sure not to do.
Permalink to quote #81 My favorite sex fantasy is becoming president, so I can do it to two hundred million people at once.
Permalink to quote #83 As the Greeks sensibly believed, should you get to know yourself, you will have penetrated as much of the human mystery as anyone need ever know.
Permalink to quote #80
Related quotes
The real terrorist threats are George W. Bush and his band of brown-shirted thugs.
Sandra BernhardSandra Bernhard quote #3 President Bush has said that he does not need approval from the UN to wage war, and I'm thinking, well, hell, he didn't need the approval of the American voter…
David LettermanDavid Letterman quote #25 There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.
Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut quote #178