William Saroyan

Be grateful for yourself...be thankful.

— William Saroyan

Art is what is irresistible.

— William Saroyan

Nothing good ever ends.

— William Saroyan

All things lie dark in possibility.

— William Saroyan

“Be, beget, begone.”

— William Saroyan

I believe in anything that works.

— William Saroyan

Remember that every man is a variation of yourself

— William Saroyan

What can I tell you, except the stupid little I know?

— William Saroyan

People are people. Don't be afraid of them.

— William Saroyan

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

— William Saroyan

We get very little wisdom from success, you know.

— William Saroyan

You write a hit play the same way you write a flop.

— William Saroyan

The whole world and every human being in it is everybody's business.

— William Saroyan

The bicycle is the noblest invention of mankind.

— William Saroyan

It is impossible not to notice that our world is tormented by failure, hate, guilt, and fear.

— William Saroyan

“There's a pretty woman for ever lucky man in the world: every man in the world is a lucky man if he…

— William Saroyan

You may tend to get cancer from the thing that makes you want to smoke so much, not from the smoking itself.

— William Saroyan

Christmas is sights, especially the sights of Christmas reflected in the eyes of a child.

— William Saroyan

San Francisco is a world to explore. It is a place where the heart can go on a delightful adventure.

— William Saroyan

I'm not the kind of guy to knock at a door and then when the door is opened not go in.

— William Saroyan

The Tax Collector's letters are invariably mimeographed, and all they say is that you still haven't paid him.

— William Saroyan

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

— William Saroyan

The basic truth of all things, as nearly as we may ever dream of determining and knowing this truth, is form, that…

— William Saroyan

“Future?" Homer said. He was a little embarrassed because all his life, from day to day, he had been busy mapping out…

— William Saroyan

I have an idea that most of all he is running away from love, because it's too big and too demanding. He's…

— William Saroyan

Americans still believe they are cut out to be successful-in everything: love, love-making, luck, luck-giving, money-making, sense-making, cancer-avoiding, clothes-wearing, car-driving, and so…

— William Saroyan

One day in the afternoon of the world, glum death will come and sit in you, and when you get up to…

— William Saroyan

To Armenians, half Armenians, quarter Armenians, and one-eight Armenians. Sixteen and thirty-second Armenians, and other winners, are likelier to be happy with…

— William Saroyan

I am interested in madness. I believe it is the biggest thing in the human race, and the most constant. How do…

— William Saroyan

Of course if you like your kids, if you love them from the moment they begin, you yourself begin all over again,…

— William Saroyan

Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding-place and let it be free and unashamed. Place…

— William Saroyan

“The most interesting thing about the world is its fantastic and unpsychoanalyzed character, its wretched and gallant personality, its horrible idiocy and…

— William Saroyan

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…

— William Saroyan

You must remember always to give, of everything you have. You must give foolishly even. You must be extravagant. You must give…

— William Saroyan

“Zombies have got to do a lot of hanging around together--weaklings, liars, cheaters. Everybody respects them these days, everybody thinks that if…

— William Saroyan

My birthplace was California, but I couldn't forget Armenia, so what is one's country? Is it land of the earth, in a…

— William Saroyan

“When I behold other people, who are of course the children of some family or other, and think of my own children,…

— William Saroyan

The writer is a spiritual anarchist, as in the depth of his soul every man is. He is discontented with everything and…

— William Saroyan

The writer who is a real writer is a rebel who never stops.

— William Saroyan

“If I want to do anything, I want to speak a more universal language.”

— William Saroyan