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.
Interpretation
San Francisco embodies creativity and storytelling, where each element contributes to an artistic experience.
William Saroyan's quote highlights how the city of San Francisco is a living canvas of stories and creativity. He suggests that every aspect of the city, from its streets to its residents, plays a role in a larger narrative, emphasizing the richness of urban life as both an artistic and literary expression.
In practice
In a speech about urban development, you might reference Saroyan to emphasize the cultural value of cities.
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.
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.
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.
Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.
I mean, the sound of an amplified guitar in a room full of people was so hypnotic and addictive to me, that I could cross any kind of border to get on there.
The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me.
Playing good girls in the '30s was difficult, when the fad was to play bad girls. Actually I think playing bad girls is a bore; I have always had more luck with good girl roles because they require more from an actress.
I'm definitely influenced by the music. We dance to music, and you have to listen to it and phrase your dancing and movement in a certain way to compliment the music. We have to work hand in hand, the dancer and the music.
You know you've achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away.
In a dancer, there is a reverence for such forgotten things as the miracle of the small beautiful bones and their delicate strength.
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