William Saroyan
William Saroyan
William Saroyanwas an American dramatist and author. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film adaptation of his novel The Human Comedy...
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth31 August 1908
CityFresno, CA
art role
The role of art is to make a world which can be tolerated.
understand
They understand matter, not spirit. And you and I live in spirit.
addicted astonished details everybody forever interested seemed takes
I was never interested in the obvious, or in the details one takes for granted, and everybody seemed to be addicted to the obvious, being astonished by it, and forever harping about the details which I had long ago weighted, measured, and discarded a
In those days, there was something more to the world than there is now.
add infinite misery mystery shall smile sorrow time variety wondrous
In the time of your life, live - so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite variety and mystery of it.
failure good people wisdom
Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know.
dime kids open throw truth worth
I don't like to see kids throw away their truth just because it isn't worth a dime in the open market.
alive good great lets paints remind saw sure
He paints for the blind, and we are the blind, and he lets us see for sure what we saw long ago but weren't sure we saw. He paints for the dead, to remind us that - great good God, think of it - we're alive ...
despise evil godliness men un
Despise evil and un godliness but not men of un godliness or evil.
believed everybody exception
Everybody has got to die, but I always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?
guilt innocence nor
No man's guilt is not yours, nor is any man's innocence a thing apart.
beyond death love small somewhere town
Is the small town a place, truly, of the world, or is it no more than something out of a boy's dreaming? Out of his love of all things not of death made? All things somewhere beyond the dust, rust, and decay, beyond the top, beyond all sides, beyond bottom: outside, around, over, under, within?
growing growth stages unnoticed whose
A growing thing whose stages of growth always went unnoticed ...
measure weigh worth
If you can measure it, don't. If you can weigh it, it isn't worth the bother. It isn't what you're after. It isn't going to get it.