Gore Vidal, as quoted in Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (2013), documentary film
“
It's one of those figures that everybody knows who he is, so they think they know who he is, and they don't. They just know a name. They just know an idea. What he was, finally, in my view, was that he created the United States as we know it, he created the nation state as we know it.
— Gore Vidal on Abraham Lincoln
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "It's one of those figures that everybody knows who he is, so they think they know who he is, and they don't. They just know a name. They just know an idea. What he was, finally, in my view, was that he created the United States as we know it, he created the nation state as we know it." in the context of "Gore Vidal, as quoted in Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (2013), documentary film" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Abraham Lincoln" (Quotes about Lincoln: These are arranged alphabetically by author, followed by some of the more notable anonymous quotations about him., Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations: Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 458-59)
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
About Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (born Eugene Louis Vidal; (3 October 1925 – 31 July 2012), was an American writer of novels, essays, screenplays, and stage plays.
About Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (born Eugene Louis Vidal; (3 October 1925 – 31 July 2012), was an American writer of novels, essays, screenplays, and stage plays.
View all quotes →