Although I write in English, and despite the fact that I'm from America, I consider myself an Armenian writer. The words I use are in English, the surroundings I write about are American, but the soul, which makes me write, is Armenian. This means I am an Armenian writer and deeply love the honor of being a part of the family of Armenian wrtiters.

If you’re alive, you can’t be bored in San Francisco. If you’re not alive, San Francisco will bring you to life.

We didn't say anything because there was such an awful lot to say, and no language to say it in.

My work is writing, but my real work is being.

The people you like when you meet them and while you know them, and the people you remember fondly, are invariably people who have a sense of comedy, not just a sense of humor.

What is a street? It is where the living weep, where the dead go off in silence to their peace.

Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell and when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.