Quotes from Sherman Alexie

Life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community.

I grabbed my book and opened it up. I wanted to smell it. Heck, I wanted to kiss it. Yes, kiss it. That's right, I am a book kisser. Maybe that's kind of perverted or maybe it's just romantic and highly intelligent.

I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,' I said. 'By Black and White. By Indian and White. But I know this isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: the people who are assholes and the people who are not.

I think all of us are always five years old in the presence and absence of our parents.

Poetry = Anger x Imagination

If you're good at it, and you love it, and it helps you navigate the river of the world, then it can't be wrong.

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. I can do it. Let's do it.

There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away.

The world, even the smallest parts of it, is filled with things you don't know.

What kind of life can you have in a house without books?

We all have to find our own ways to say good-bye.

If you care about something enough, it's going to make you cry. But you have to use it. Use your tears. Use your pain. Use your fear. Get mad. Arnold, get mad.

I draw because words are too unpredictable. I draw because words are too limited. If you speak and write in English, or Spanish, or Chinese, or any other language, then only a certain percentage of human beings will get your meaning. But when you draw a picture everybody can understand it. If I draw a cartoon of a flower, then every man, woman, and child in the world can look at it and say, "That's a flower.

If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one's chances of survival increase with each book one reads.

Do you know why the Indian rain dances always worked? Because the Indians would keep dancing until it rained.

That's right, I am a book kisser.

I suddenly understood that if every moment of a book should be taken seriously, then every moment of a life should be taken seriously as well.

I was studying the sky like I was an astronomer, except it was daytime and I didn't have a telescope, so I was just an idiot.

Nervous means you want to play. Scared means you don't want to play.

We're all travelling heavy with illusions.

Coach said. "the quality of a man's life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor".

I've learned that the worst thing a parent can do is ignore their children

Everyone I have lost in the closing of a door the click of the lock is not forgotten, they do not die but remain within the soft edges of the earth, the ash of house fires and cancer in sin and forgiveness huddled under old blankets dreaming their way into my hands, my heart closing tight like fists. - "Indian Boy Love Song #1

That's one more thing people don't know about Indians: We love to talk dirty.