San Francisco in Quotes

[EllenOlenska]

A lot of quotes about SF came from a time when SF was very different than what it is now, though.

So they are not necessarily true anymore....sadly.

[Paprika56]

Could you explain what you mean by that? I found it curious that those quotes all came from people around and famous pre-70s. What's SF like now? (I'm trying to figure out where in the country to move and if SF is an option).

[EllenOlenska]

Originally Posted by Paprika56

Could you explain what you mean by that? I found it curious that those quotes all came from people around and famous pre-70s. What's SF like now? (I'm trying to figure out where in the country to move and if SF is an option).

I am not living in SF yet, so I don't proclaim to know what it's like, but according to the old-timers, things have changed a lot there.

It's become a Disneyland for yuppies, apparently. Although, I'm a yuppy, so I suppose I'll be okay there. But I also like socioeconomic diversity in a place, which seems to be dying out in SF.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by Paprika56

Could you explain what you mean by that? I found it curious that those quotes all came from people around and famous pre-70s. What's SF like now? (I'm trying to figure out where in the country to move and if SF is an option).

I'm a creative person. I play classical piano, I compose, I like to take influences from things around me. I have a love/hate relationship with San Francisco, but there's no place like it. When I was a kid growing up in the South Bay, everywhere else was just another exit on 101, but I always knew The City. It doesn't matter if it's the sea of square houses in the Excelsior, the graceful Victorians in Noe Valley, or the finely decorated low-rises in Nob Hill. You can always tell you're somewhere special.

[Katimae]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

Love the quotes! Here's another famous one, which was supposedly said by Mark Twain - but according to snopes, that's just a rumor. Oh well, it's a good one (and very true) anyway...
"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

This is my Favorite SF quote, especially when I'm freezing my buns off in AT&T park in a winter coat in July! I think it has something to do with the fog and water. I grew up in Pennsylvania, but I swear I've never been colder than I am in that stadium!

I LOVE SF, but I think it's a better place to visit than live in. I think it's just too expensive here and the weather is horrible. I was excited that it doesn't rain here all the time (like it does in Pa) but it's foggy almost every day, so it might as well be raining (you get all soggy and cold anyway). Also, it never really gets warm. I live down on the peninsula and we have a heat wave where it gets up in the 80's maybe 90's about 10 days out of the year, the rest of the year I need a jacket. I don't know what possessed me to move to an apt building with a pool! The people are not very friendly here, they are the kind of people who look at what kind of bag you have before answering a question. The homeless situation is insane, you cannot go a block in the bay area without being asked for money, it's sad and it really gets to you after a while. I'm not going to even get started on the traffic...

[FresnoFacts]

Originally Posted by beone

"No city invites the heart to come to life as San Francisco does. Arrival in San Francisco is an experience in living" - William Saroyan

"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." - William Saroyan

"If you're alive, you can't be bored in San Francisco. If you're not alive, San Francisco will bring you to life.” - William Saroyan

Glad to see several Saroyan quotes. Most people these days are not familiar with the Fresno native. This is the 100th anniversary of his birth.
William Saroyan Centennial - Welcome to Web Site

William Saroyan won a Pulitzer, an Academy Award, and the NY Drama Critic’s Circle Award. He also co-wrote Rosemary Clooney's hit song "Come On-a My House."

Saroyan's story themes of love, hope, and small-town America do not always get appreciated today except maybe at Christmas when people watch "It's a Wonderful Life".

Saroyan loved 4 places: San Francisco, Paris, Armenia, and Fresno. Of Fresno he said:
"It was only later that I came to see from the perspective of faraway cities some of the charm and some of the depth, dimension, and potential meaning of Fresno"

And of course he also said, "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."