Quotes from Anderson Cooper

This is the story of the extraordinary rise and epic fall of the Vanderbilt dynasty. This is the story of the greatest American fortune ever squandered.

If you smoke on a sailboat, flip your ashes or discard your cigarette on the side the sail is on, so the wind won't blow sparks or ashes or butts back into the boat. —Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette

Alva embodied a curious contradiction in that she felt she cared deeply for women as a class while nursing venomous contempt for the women she actually knew.

If you have that rage to live, don't do something silly and mess up what you already have because you crave more. There is no amount of "more" that will ever satisfy. Once you are aware of this, once you are cognizant of the rage, then perhaps you can see when it leads you astray, taking over your thoughts, propelling you into a course of action you may regret.

For all its negative aspects, this restless spirit can, at times, be a blessing. It is the appetite for life that continues to keep one young and alive. It is the key to inspiration that fuels imagination and creativity.

The knowing of joy and the knowing of pain are

My life was never destined to be quite happy. . . . Inherited wealth is a real handicap to happiness. It is as certain a death to ambition as cocaine is to morality.

I'd keep it [Kevlar vest] with me in my vehicle, but I wouldn't bring it into people's homes. Surrounded by Bosnians who didn't have protection, I felt that it was inappropriate for me to stay sealed off. I wanted them to tell me their stories, risk exposing themselves to me. I couldn't ask that of someone if I wasn't willing to expose myself as well.

fashioned of flowing silk or jersey

Great sex is, of course, a top priority.

I recently came across a saying by the Scottish writer Ian Maclaren. "Be kind," he wrote, "for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle." You may not be able to see the battle others are fighting, and you may believe they are confident and have never known sadness or fear, but believe me, they have, so be kind.

Trying to please everyone all the time never works. It leads to hating oneself and then hating oneself even more when one later tries to assert one's authority.

The real Duc de Guise had been assassinated in 1588 at the Château de Blois, which was the architectural inspiration for the house at 660 Fifth

the invention of celebrity, a concept made possible by new technologies for the cheap dissemination of images.

It's the way it should be- no distance between the living and the dead. Their stories are remembered, their spirits embraced.

There is no good that comes from the storm, no silver lining, no Hollywood ending. Death descends. Lives are lost.

I've often thought of loss as a kind of language. Once learned, it's never forgotten. I learned the language of loss when I was ten, and still know it to this day. There have been times when I wished I had a scar or a mark, a visible sign of the pain I still feel over Daddy's death and Carter's. It would be easier, in a way, if people knew without my having to say anything that I am not whole, that part of me died long ago.

Demanding accountability is no game, and there's nothing wrong with trying to understand who made mistakes, who failed.

There were plenty of mistakes to go around. I just want someone to admit to them.

Here, you grow up believing there's a safety net, that things can never completely fall apart. Katrina showed us all that's not true.

You may not be able to see the battle others are fighting, and you may believe they are confident and have never known sadness or fear, but believe me, they have, so be kind.

There is no amount of MORE that can ever satisfy.

The rainbow comes and goes. Enjoy it while it lasts. Don't be surprised by its departure, and rejoice when it returns.

Women [are] dwarfed not developed by competition. . . . What men did not want to do, they said was women's sphere. If a woman is natural[,] a man does not want her. This makes of woman a liar and a pretender. A woman is an actress who plays to an audience of men. They know what will be applauded and what will be hissed.