They really do despise one another. Each thought the other was quite dangerous. ibid. Hitchens
Debate 2: Tonight the key question for every patriot is can an ageing Hollywood juvenile actor with a right-wing script defeat Richard Nixon, a professional politician, who currently represents no discernible interest except his own. ibid. Vidal
Buckley was his generation’s greatest debater. He knew very well how to make an argument, but he was even better at dismantling your argument. ibid. Sam Tanenhaus
He’s always to the right I think and almost always in the wrong. And you certainly must, Bill, maintain your reputation as being the Marie Antoinette of the right wing, and continually imposing your own rather bloodthirsty neuroses on the political campaign. ibid. Vidal
A philosophy and an economy of stagnation but also a spiritual world of stagnation. ibid. Buckley of Vidal
It’s very hard to stand up carrying the weight of what I know. ibid. Buckley’s response to panel question about thinking on your feet
Freedom breeds inequality … Unless you have freedom to be unequal, there is no such thing as freedom. ibid. Buckley to Vidal
In the interval between Miami and Chicago I read Myra Breckinridge [Gore Vidal]. It attempts heuristic allegory but fails, giving gratification only to sadist homosexuals and challenge only to taxonomists of perversion. I thought and thought about it. There is nothing left to say about Myra. ibid. Bill Buckley
Gore Vidal was correct in prophesying that we would become an empire. That is our present dilemma. ibid. Reid Buckley
These ad hominem attacks were not at all characteristic of Bill. ibid. Linda Bridges, Buckley’s personal assistant
Buckley couldn’t let it go. ibid. Tanenhaus
On Experiencing Gore Vidal: Can there be any justification in calling a man a queer before ten million people on television? ibid. Bill Buckley, essay Esquire magazine
A Distasteful Encounter with William F Buckley Jr: Can there by any justification in calling a man a pro crypto-Nazi before ten million people on television? ibid. Gore Vidal, essay Esquire magazine
One of the longest lawsuits between two American public intellectuals that has ever been. ibid. Hitchens
If I had a pill which would reduce my age by twenty-five years I wouldn’t take it. Because I’m tired of life. ibid. Buckley, television interview
I can’t get in a mild discussion without turning it into an argument. There must be something in my tone of voice, or this arrogant face – something that antagonizes everybody. Nobody likes me on sight. I suppose that’s why I’m cast as the heavy. Humphrey Bogart
It’s hard to win an argument with a smart person, but it’s damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person. Bill Murray