William Saroyan Quotes

Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know.

All things lie dark in possibility.

Genius is play, and man's capacity for achieving genius is infinite, and many may achieve genius only through play.

All I can do is write my stories for mankind, and rest easy.

I was a little afraid of him; not the boy himself, but of what he seemed to be: the victim of the world.

He was just a young man who'd come to town on a donkey, bored to death or something, who'd taken advantage of the chance to be entertained by a small-town kid who was bored to death, too. That's the only way I could figure it out without accepting the general theory that he was crazy.

Indians are born with an instinct for riding, rowing, hunting, fishing, and swimming. Americans are born with an instinct for fooling around with machines.

The race was over. I was last, by ten yards. Without the slightest hesitation I protested and challenged the runners to another race, same distance, back. They refused to consider my proposal, which proved, I knew, that they were afraid to race me. I told them they knew very well I could beat them.

There is little pride in writers. They know they are human and shall some day die and be forgotten. Knowing all this a writer is gentle and kindly where another man is severe and unkind.