Another one of the great American writers of the 20th century has died.

Gore Vidal passed away on Tuesday at his home in the Hollywood Hills. He died of complications of pneumonia. Vidal was 86.

The New York Times obituary offers a glimpse at his résumé:

“Mr. Vidal was, at the end of his life, an Augustan figure who believed himself to be the last of a breed, and he was probably right. Few American writers have been more versatile or gotten more mileage from their talent. He published some 25 novels, two memoirs and several volumes of stylish, magisterial essays. He also wrote plays, television dramas and screenplays. For a while he was even a contract writer at MGM. And he could always be counted on for a spur-of-the-moment aphorism, putdown or sharply worded critique of American foreign policy.”

Vidal, like many writers of his time, was an oversized character—a sort of mad uncle of 20th century American writing—and sadly, many of these writers have died in the last 10 years, including Norman Mailer and Hunter S. Thompson. (Another one of these writers, Truman Capote, died in 1984, which Vidal famously called “a good career move.”)

During his long career, Vidal sat for countless interviews and left a trail of famous sayings. Here are 10 of them on the topics of writing and language:

On the editing process

“I am an obsessive rewriter, doing one draft and then another and another, usually five. In a way, I have nothing to say, but a great deal to add.”

On a writer’s voice

“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn.”

On what to write

“Write what you know will always be excellent advice for those who ought not to write at all. Write what you think, what you imagine, what you suspect!”

On the perfect sentence

“You can't really succeed with a novel anyway; they're too big. It's like city planning. You can't plan a perfect city because there's too much going on that you can't take into account. You can, however, write a perfect sentence now and then.”

On advertising yourself

“In a nation that has developed to a high art advertising, the creator who refuses to advertise himself is immediately suspected of having no product worth selling.”

On alcohol and fame

“Some writers take to drink, others take to audiences.”

On what to write, part II (a macabre suggestion)

“Write something, even if it’s just a suicide note.”

On “beautiful” words

“The four most beautiful words in our common language: I told you so.”

On a fellow writer

“What other culture could have produced someone like Hemingway and not seen the joke?”

On the power of language

“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.”

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