It is a pity, in my opinion, that no prize exists for the writer who best refrains from adding to the world's bad books.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that writers should strive to avoid contributing to poor literature.
William Saroyan's quote highlights the unfortunate lack of recognition for writers who resist the temptation to produce subpar work. He expresses a desire for a system that honors those who choose quality over quantity in writing, emphasizing the value of thoughtful and meaningful contributions to literature.
In practice
Use this quote when discussing the importance of quality literature at a writer's workshop.
The purpose of writing is both to keep up with life and to run ahead of it. I am little comfort to myself, although I am the only comfort I have, excepting perhaps streets, clouds, the sun, the faces and voices of kids and the aged, and similar accidents of beauty, innocence, truth and loneliness.
San Francisco itself is art, above all literary art. Every block is a short story, every hill a novel. Every home a poem, every dweller within immortal. That is the whole truth.
I care so much about everything that I care about nothing.
I am interested in madness. I believe it is the biggest thing in the human race, and the most constant. How do you take away from a man his madness without also taking away his identity? Are we sure it is desirable for a man's spirit not to be at war with itself, or that it is better to be serene and ready to go to dinner than to be excited and unwilling to stop for a cup of coffee, even?
Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding place and let it be free and unashamed.
Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.
If we can't stamp out literature in the country, we can at least stop its being brought in from outside.
I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth: the mythic truth about human nature in general, the particular truth about those life-communities that define our own identity, and the most specific truth of all: our own self-story. Fiction, because it is not about someone who lived in the real world, always has the possibility of being about oneself. --From the Introduction
To whom do I give my new elegant little book? Cui dono lepidum novum libellum?
The poet can only write the poems; it takes the reader to complete the meaning.
The problem with most genre fantasy is that it's not nearly fantastic enough. It's escapist, but it can't escape.
Two questions form the foundation of all novels: "What if?" and "What next?" (A third question, "What now?", is one the author asks himself every 10 minutes or so; but it's more a cry than a question.) Every novel begins with the speculative question, What if "X" happened? That's how you start.
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