Quotes from Sherman Alexie

Aren't all crimes, by definition, hate crimes? I mean, people don't rob banks because they love tellers.

That's right, I am a book kisser.

The United States wants all of us to forget the crimes it committed against the indigenous. The United States wants us to forget. The United States wants us to forget. The United States wants us to forget.

I thought maybe if you wore different clothes at school,' Paul said, 'maybe you could start a trend. You'd be original.' 'Oh, my God,' she said. 'It's high school, Dad. People get beat up for being original.

This is who I am. This is who I have always been. I am in pain. I am always in pain. But I always find a way to the story. And I always find my way home.

After our earliest ancestors crawled out of the oceans, how soon did they feel the desire to crawl back in?

dear old friends, dear old lovers, do you realize that when you voted for Trump, you voted against me—against the memory of the person I used to be in your lives?

He was the loser Indian father of a loser Indian son living in a world built for winners.

I'm dying from about ninety-nine kinds of shame

How often had men sat around dinner tables and discussed women's lives, their choices, and the reasons why one woman reached across the bed to touch another woman?

And no matter how much you learn, you just keep on learning there is so much more you need to learn.

Rowdy and I played one-on-one for hours. we played until dark. we played until the streetlights lit up court. we played until the bats swooped down at our heads. we played until the moon was huge and golden and perfect in the dark sky. we didn't keep score.

There's nothing more unattractive than a vain man

They call me an apple because they think I'm red on the outside and white on the inside.

there are times when the last thing you want to hear is the truth.

I pretended I belonged.

I wanted to live up to expectations. I guess that's what it comes down to. The power of expectations. And

Like a good Indian, he knew when to talk and when to remain silent. Like a good Indian, he knew there was never a good time to talk.

So I draw because I feel like it might be my only real chance to escape the reservation.

And anger is never added to anger. It multiplies.

A man doesn't grow up black in the USA without knowing a lot of crazy black folks, without being born to and giving birth to the breakable and broken.

Exoticism was hard to find in Pullman, Washington.

Words can be like that, you know? Whenever I get into arguments now, I remember her and I also remember Muhammad Ali. He knew the power of his fists but, more importantly, he knew the power of his words, too.

There's always time to change your life.