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
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?
army-and-navy captured fact life setting three
Three times in my life I have been captured: by the orphanage, by school, and by the Army. But I'm mistaken. The fact is I was captured only once, when I was born, only that capture is also setting free, which is what this is actually all about. The
understand
They understand matter, not spirit. And you and I live in spirit.
afraid boy seemed victim
I was a little afraid of him; not the boy himself, but of what he seemed to be: the victim of the world.
clear eye ignore kindly unworthy
Ignore the obvious, for it is unworthy of the clear eye and the kindly heart.
passenger
He wanted to be a passenger on anything that was going anywhere, but most of all on a ship.
cheers multitude neither nor rebel walks writer
He neither walks with the multitude nor cheers with them. The writer who is a real writer is a rebel who never stops.
swift visual wisdom
My wisdom was visual and as swift as vision.
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.
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.
In those days, there was something more to the world than there is now.