Sherman Alexie quotes - page 6

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. (Sherman Alexie)
I'm a method writer. In order to write about the emotion, I have to experience it. I get physically tired and exhausted, devoting hours and hours and hours to it. View quote
Sherman Alexie
I realized that I might be a lonely Indian boy, but I was not alone in the loneliness. There were millions of other Americans who had left their birthplaces in search of a dream. (217) View quote
Sherman Alexie
In high school I dated a white woman. She would come to visit me on the rez. And her dad, who was very racist, didn't like that at all. And he told her one time, 'You shouldn't go on the rez if you're white because Indians have a lot of anger in their heart.' View quote
Sherman Alexie
I don't know what any individual should do about crossing her own borders. I only know that I live a happier, more adventurous life, by crossing borders. View quote
Sherman Alexie
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. View quote
Sherman Alexie
You know, people speak in poetry all the time. They just don't realize it. View quote
Sherman Alexie
It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor. You start believing that you're poor because you're stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you're stupid and ugly because you're Indian. And because you're Indian you start believing you're destined to be poor. It's an ugly circle and there's nothing you can do about it. View quote
Sherman Alexie
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. View quote
Sherman Alexie
I thought I'd been condescended to as an Indian - that was nothing compared to the condescension for writing Y.A. View quote
Sherman Alexie
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. (Sherman Alexie)
I ain't interested in the truth. I'm interested in the way things should be. View quote
Sherman Alexie
I had the feeling I was going to be successful, and I didn't want to be another disappointing Indian. View quote
Sherman Alexie
Well, I think the worst part about tribalism is its tendency to fundamentalize, and if I can fight fundamentalism in any of its forms I'm happy. View quote
Sherman Alexie
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. View quote
Sherman Alexie
He wanted the songs, the stories, to save everybody. View quote
Sherman Alexie
Summer coming like a car from down the highway. View quote
Sherman Alexie
What's the difference between bulimics and anorexics?" I ask. "Anorexics are anorexics all the time," she says, "I'm only bulimic when I'm throwing up." Wow. She sounds just like my dad! "I'm only an alcoholic when I get drunk." There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away. Penelope gorges on her pain and then throws it up and flushes it away. My dad drinks his pain away. (107) View quote
Sherman Alexie
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. View quote
Sherman Alexie
The people who loved me when I was seven years old love my books, and the people who didn't like me when I was seven years old don't like my books. View quote
Sherman Alexie
The streetlight outside my house shines on tonight and I'm watching it like it could give me a vision. James ain't talked ever and he looks at that streetlight like it was a word and maybe like it was a verb. James wanted to streetlight me and make me bright and beautiful so all the moths and bats would circle me like I was the center of the world an held secrets. (Sherman Alexie)
Like any good shaman, professional baseball player, or politician, my mother always answered questions with questions. View quote
Sherman Alexie
Pain is never added to pain. It multiplies. View quote
Sherman Alexie
That's one more thing people don't know about Indians: We love to talk dirty. View quote
Sherman Alexie
[F]rank knew he was guilty of arrogance and misanthropy, but he compensated by being kind to strangers and tipping really well at restaurants. View quote
Sherman Alexie