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There is much for a young writer to learn from our poorest writers. It is very destructive to burn bad books, almost more destructive than to burn good ones.

— William Saroyan The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934)

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More quotes by William Saroyan

I don't like to see kids throw away their truth just because it isn't worth a dime in the open market.

The Flashing Dragonfly (1973)

Everybody has to die, but I always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?

He wanted to be a passenger on anything that was going anywhere, but most of all on a ship.

The writer is a spiritual anarchist, as in the depth of his soul every man is.

The William Saroyan Reader (1958)

I believe there are ways whose ends are life instead of death.

Inhale and Exhale (1936)

All William Saroyan quotes →

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

It is not in the books of the Philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the Ancients, that we must look for the footprints of Science, and re-discover the Mysteries of Knowledge.

Albert Pike Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871)

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.

Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.

Logan Pearsall Smith Afterthoughts (1931)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Saroyan (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.