Quotes from Sherman Alexie

The ordinary can be like medicine.

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 my way to the story. And I always find my way home.

I wasn't just defending myself. I was defending Indians, black people, and buffalo.

What about me?" I asked. "Am I mean?" "You aren't mean to me with words," she said. "You're mean to me with your silences.

I hate my country. There are so many rich people who don't share their shit. They're like spoiled little ten-year-old bullies on the playground. They hog the monkey bars and the slide and the seesaw. And if you complain even a little bit, if you try to get just one spin on the merry-go-round, the bullies beat the shit out of you.

Like officer Dave.He's never said much about his life, but I can tell he's scarred. And he knows I'm scarred too. The wounded always recognize the wounded. We can smell each other.

What if someone picks on me? I asked Then I'll pick on them. What if someone picks my nose? I asked. The I'll pick your nose, too Rowdy said.

Pain is never added to pain. It multiplies.

Is the air okay? I texted. It hurts a little to breathe, my sister texted back. But we're okay. Jesus, I thought, is there a better and more succinct definition of grief than It hurts a little to breathe, but we're okay ?

I knew I was being an idiot. But I figured if I kept being an idiot, if I didn't actually accept the truth, then the truth would become false.

I'm quite aware of my differences. I wouldn't classify them as weird

They put me in a holding cell with a black kid and a white kid and a Chinese kid. We're the United Nations of juvenile delinquents.

Then I remember that God is really, really old. So maybe God has God arthritis. And maybe that's why the world sucks. Maybe God's hands and fingers don't work as well as they used to.

He wanted the songs, the stories, to save everybody.

He looked into the crowd for approval, saw his mother and father. He waved and they waved back. Smiles and Indian teeth. They were both drunk. Everything familiar and welcome. Everything beautiful.

it's way too early for him to be talking anyhow but I see in his eyes something and I see in his eyes a voice and I see in his eyes a whole new set of words

Seems like the cold would never go away and winter would be like the bottom of my feet but then it is gone in one night and in its place comes the sun so large and laughable.

The world is too fucking big. Sometimes, I can't even carry myself through all the love and fear.

Standing on the shore, I prayed for my dead. I praised them. I stupidly hoped that the lake would heal my small wounds. Then I stripped off my clothes and waded naked into the water. Jesus, I don't want to die today or tomorrow, but I don't want to live forever.

So I heard the boom of my father's rifle when he shot my best friend. A bullet only costs about two cents, and anybody can afford that.

There are family mysteries I cannot solve. There are family mysteries I am unwilling to solve.

I was emotionally erect.

Rowdy fought everybody. He fought boys and girls. Men and women. He fought stray dogs. Hell, he fought the weather. He'd throw wild punches at rain. Honestly.

He likes to pretend he lives inside the comic books. I guess a fake life inside a cartoon is a lot better than his real life.