William Saroyan Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• Babies who have not yet been taught to speak any language are the only race of the earth, the race of man: all the rest is pretence, what we call civilization, hatred, fear, desire for strength.

  William Saroyan

  Baby, Men, Race

  William Saroyan (1934). “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, and Other Stories”, New Directions Publishing

  21 Copy quote

• I sometimes think that rich men belong to another nationality entirely, no matter what their actual nationality happens to be. The nationality of the rich.

  William Saroyan

  Thinking, Men, Matter

  William Saroyan (1992). “Saroyan's Armenians: An Anthology”, Aegina Press

  24 Copy quote

• No enemy is so annoying as one who was a friend, or still is a friend,and there are many more of these than one would suspect.

  William Saroyan

  Enemy, Annoying, Stills

  11 Copy quote

• If you're alive, you can't be bored in San Francisco. If you're not alive, San Francisco will bring you to life......San Francisco is a world to explore. It is a place where the heart can go on a delightful adventure. It is a city in which the spirit can know refreshment every day.

  William Saroyan

  Heart, Adventure, Cities

  25 Copy quote

• What my children appear to be on the surface is no matter to me. I am fooled neither by gracious manners nor by bad manners. I am interested in what is truly beneath each kind of manners...I want my children to be people- each one separate- each one special- each one a pleasant and exciting variation of all the others

  William Saroyan

  Children, People, Special

  20 Copy quote

• Every man in the world is better than someone else and not as good someone else.

  William Saroyan

  Men, Competition, World

  12 Copy quote

• What a people talk about means something. What they don't talk about means something.

  William Saroyan

  Mean, People

  William Saroyan (1968). “I used to believe I had forever, now I'm not so sure”

  4 Copy quote

• I know you will remember this — that nothing good ever ends. If it did, there would be no people in the world — no life at all, anywhere. And the world is full of people and full of wonderful life.

  William Saroyan

  People, Would Be, World

  "The Human Comedy". Book by William Saroyan, 1943.

  8 Copy quote

• I can't hate for long. It isn't worth it.

  William Saroyan

  Hate, Long, I Can

  William Saroyan (1952). “The bicycle rider in Beverly Hills”

  7 Copy quote

• My work is writing, but my real work is being.

  William Saroyan

  Real, Writing, Real Work

  William Saroyan (1984). “The New Saroyan Reader: A Connoisseur's Anthology of the Writings of William Saroyan”, Creative Arts Book Company

  4 Copy quote

• The basic truth of all things, as nearly as we may ever dream of determining and knowing this truth, is form, that which is, as it is. The way and shape of the thing no less than the thing itself.

  William Saroyan

  Dream, Truth, Knowing

  William Saroyan, James H. Tashjian (1983). “My name is Saroyan”, Coward Mc Cann

  13 Copy quote

• There is a small area of land in Asia Minor that is called Armenia, but it is not so. It is not Armenia. It is a place. There are only Armenians, and they inhabit the earth, not Armenia, since there is no Armenia. There is no America and there is no England, and no France, and no Italy. There is only the earth.

  William Saroyan

  Land, America, Armenia

  William Saroyan (1992). “Saroyan's Armenians: An Anthology”, Aegina Press

  8 Copy quote

• Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.

  William Saroyan

  Soon Enough, Trying, Alive

  William Saroyan (1934). “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, and Other Stories”, p.13, New Directions Publishing

  9 Copy quote

• Cowards are nice, they're interesting, they're gentle, they wouldn't think of shooting down people in a parade from a tower. They want to live, so they can see their kids. They're very brave.

  William Saroyan

  Nice, Kids, Thinking

  William Saroyan (1994). “Fresno Stories (New Directions Bibelot)”, p.58, New Directions Publishing

  4 Copy quote

• Sometimes the most intelligent thing is not to do anything, certainly nothing loaded with the imbecility of emotionality.

  William Saroyan

  Intelligent, Sometimes, Imbecility

  William Saroyan, Leo Hamalian (1990). “Madness in the Family”, p.15, New Directions Publishing

  4 Copy quote

• What do you mean, what's the matter with him? Nothing's the matter with him, everything's the matter with him, the same as it is with everybody else. He's just fine. He gets overwhelmed now and then, and he doesn't know how to say what he feels or means, so he cries and runs off a little, trying to find out where to go, for God's sake. Where can you go?

  William Saroyan

  Running, Mean, Trying

  William Saroyan, Leo Hamalian (1990). “Madness in the Family”, p.49, New Directions Publishing

  7 Copy quote

• Art is what is irresistible.

  William Saroyan

  Art, Art Is, Irresistible

  "The End of the Mannerist Century". Book by William Saroyan, "The Pleasure of Modernist Music" by Ashby Arved, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

• A man's ethnic identity has more to do with a personal awareness than with geography.

  William Saroyan

  Men, Identity, Awareness

  "Inhale and Exhale". Book by William Saroyan, 1936.

  12 Copy quote

• She cried a little, but only inside, because long ago she had decided she didn't like crying because if you ever started to cry it seemed as if there was so much to cry about you almost couldn't stop, and she didn't like that at all.

  William Saroyan

  Long Ago, Littles, Cry

  William Saroyan, Leo Hamalian (1990). “Madness in the Family”, p.31, New Directions Publishing

  7 Copy quote

• I always know a lie when I hear it, and the effect it has on me is no good at all. I go berserk just forcing myself not to go berserk, just trying to see truth in the lie, to see it in full context, and in a dimension in which it has got to be more than just a lie, possibly the profoundest kind of truth.

  William Saroyan

  Lying, Philosophical, Trying

  William Saroyan (1970). “Days of Life and Death and Escape to the Moon. (2. Print.)”

  7 Copy quote

• No city invites the heart to come to life as San Francisco does. Arrival in San Francisco is an experience in living.

  William Saroyan

  Heart, Cities, San Francisco

  11 Copy quote

• Nothing good ever ends.

  William Saroyan

  Ends

  "The Human Comedy". Book by William Saroyan, 1943.

  4 Copy quote

• My work has always been the product of my time.

  William Saroyan

  Time, My Time, Products

  "Something About a Soldier". Book by William Saroyan, 1940.

  4 Copy quote

• I have an idea that most of all he is running away from love, because it's too big and too demanding. He's running away from us--from you, from me, from his sister, from himself, too. Who wants to be himself, who wants to be so little, and so captured and limited?

  William Saroyan

  Running, Ideas, Want

  William Saroyan, Leo Hamalian (1990). “Madness in the Family”, p.49, New Directions Publishing

  7 Copy quote

• I believe in anything that works.

  William Saroyan

  Believe, I Believe, I Believe In

  4 Copy quote

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