Sherman Alexie Quotes
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How self-centered, how arrogant... Imagine the awesome privilege of living in a society where you get to choose what you eat at each and every meal. When I was a kid, I was a vegetarian and a vegan for long stretches... I was a commodity cheese-atarian.
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There have been players with Indian heritage, but there hasn't been a Native-American professional basketball player who became a regular for all sorts of social and political reasons.
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When it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing. And so, laughing and crying, we said good-bye to my grandmother. And when we said goodbye to one grandmother, we said good-bye to all of them. Each funeral was a funeral for all of us. We lived and died together. All of us laughed when they lowered my grandmother into the ground. And all of us laughed when they covered her with dirt. And all of us laughed as we walked and drove and rode our way back to our lonely, lonely houses.
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We only know how to lose and be lost.
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Do you understand how amazing it is to hear that from an adult? Do you know how amazing it is to hear that from anybody? It's one of the simplest sentences in the world, just four words, but they're the four hugest words in the world when they're put together. You can do it.
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I've learned that the worst thing a parent can do is ignore their children
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The problem is that too many adults think their kids' lives are simple, or they try to make their lives simple, when their emotional lives are just as complicated as ours. They might have a few less tools to deal with it because they're young, but the emotions are all the same, and the subject matter is all the same.
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Non-Indian writers usually say "Great Spirit," "Mother Earth," "Two-Legged, Four-Legged, and Winged." Mixed-blood writers usually say "Creator, "Mother Earth," "Two-Legged, Four- Legged, and Winged." Indian writers usually say "God," "Mother Earth," "Human Being, Dog, and Bird."
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When you construct a mix tape, the first song you come out with has to be a barnburner.
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In a real-world way, my gifts are very limited in terms of what I can do.
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I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers. I don't write to protect them. It's far too late for that. I write to give them weapons-in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.
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Like any good shaman, professional baseball player, or politician, my mother always answered questions with questions.
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I ain't interested in the truth. I'm interested in the way things should be.
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I guess a witness is all I am. I think as a writer, you're pretty removed. Writing is a very selfish, individualistic pursuit. So in that sense I'm a witness because I'm not participating.
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I love to scare the already terrified assholes.
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The dream he needed most was the dream that frightened him more.
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White Americans have a short memory.
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If it's fiction, then it better be true.
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If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one's chances of survival increase with each book one reads.
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Somebody dies and people eat your food. Funny how that works.
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She was in pain and I loved her, sort of loved her, I guess, so I kind of had to love her pain, too.
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When it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing.
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We all have to find our own ways to say good-bye.
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I'm quite aware of my differences. I wouldn't classify them as weird