Sherman Alexie
He made me realize that hard work--that the act of finishing, of completing, of accomplishing a task--is joyousCollection: Hard Work
I don’t want long hair, I don’t want short hair, I don’t want hair at all, and I don’t want to be a girl or a boy. I want to be a yellow and orange leaf some little kid picks up and pastes in his scrapbook.Collection: Girl
It's a weird thing. Reservations were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear. But somehow or another, Indians have forgotten the reservations were meant to be death camps.Collection: Moving
When are we left-wingers going to learn that we are losing the cultural and political battle with conservatives because we are fractured into narcissistic special-interest groups? Why should an antiwar protestor be so concerned about her dietary identity? The political opinions of vegetarians and meat-eaters are, after all, equally important. And what does it tell us about vegetarians that it would never occur to meat-eaters to carry a sign that reads "Pacifist Pork Chop Lover for Peace" or "Backyard Rib Barbecuer for International Nuclear Disarmament"?Collection: Political Opinions
If it's fiction, then it better be true.Collection: Fiction
Humor was an antiseptic that cleaned the deepest of personal wounds.Collection: Wounds
Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.Collection: Perseverance
You have to love somebody that much to also hate them that much, too. (191)Collection: Hate
I'll quit eating meat when you get a cow out here to beat me at a poetry slam. Only so many words rhyme with 'Mooo.' I mean, yes, we're supposed to be better stewards; yes, we're supposed to take care of the earth; yes, we're supposed to honor the sacrifices made by the animals; yes yes yes yes yes, but dammit, we're in charge, and you know why? It's because of these [holding out thumbs]...Maybe you think that carrots are less important than cows. I think they're equal, especially in a sauce.Collection: Mean
Yes, I am Irish and Indian, which would be the coolest blend in the world if my parents were around to teach me how to be Irish and Indian. But they're not here and haven't been for years, so I'm not really Irish or Indian. I am a blank sky, a human solar eclipse.Collection: Years
All I try to do is portray Indians as we are, in creative ways. With imagination and poetry. I think a lot of Native American literature is stuck in one idea: sort of spiritual, environmentalist Indians. And I want to portray everyday lives. I think by doing that, by portraying the ordinary lives of Indians, perhaps people learn something new.Collection: Spiritual
A lot of native culture has been destroyed. So you already feel lost inside your culture. And then you add up feeling lost and insignificant inside the larger culture. So you end up feeling lost squared. And to never be recognized, to never have any power, you know, other minority communities actually have a lot of economic, cultural power.Collection: Community
Funny how a little politeness can change people's minds.Collection: People
I got in a fight with my girlfriend," I said. "I was just driving around, blowing off steam, you know?" Well, you should be more careful where you drive," the officer said. "You're making people nervous. You don't fit the profile of the neighborhood." I wanted to tell him that I didn't fit the profile of the country but I knew it would just get me into trouble.Collection: Country
Books and beer are the best and worst defense.Collection: Book
I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.Collection: Writing
Every movie is a road movie. Every novel is a mystery. Every tortilla chip is sacred.Collection: Sacred
Read. Read 1000 pages for every 1 page that you write.Collection: Writing
Nobody recognizes that a bookstore or library can also be a drowning polar bear. And in this country [US], magazines, newspapers, and bookstores are drowning polar bears. And if people can't see that or don't want to talk about it, I don't understand them at all.Collection: Country
The percentage of Indian kids doing some sort of artistic work is much higher than in the general population - painting, drawing, dancing, singing. The creation of art is still an everyday part of Indian culture, unlike the dominant culture, where art is sort of peripheral.Collection: Art
When you're depressed, you know, it's like the world has ended. Even getting out of bed takes the most massive amount of effort. But when you're manic, oh, it's so addicting. You know, I have finished novels in two weeks in manic stages.Collection: Two
Everybody likes to have a place to think, to meditate, to eat a burrito.Collection: Thinking
If you really want a woman to love you, then you have to dance. And if you don’t want to dance, then you’re going to have to work extra hard to make a woman love you forever, and you will always run the risk that she will leave you at any second for a man who knows how to tango.Collection: Running
Well, as a native, as a colonized people you do live in the in between. The thing is I'm native. But necessarily because I'm a member of the country, I'm also a White American.Collection: Country
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.Collection: Sky
I know a lot about being white - because I have to, I live in the white world. A white person doesn't live in the Indian world. I have to be white every day.Collection: White
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.Collection: Smell
My books for adults had been previously challenged and banned so I'd had experience with it. I always find it sad and amusing: Sad to think that such archaic and potentially dangerous censorious beliefs still exist, and amused because these censors only make a book more powerful and seductive when trying to ban it.Collection: Powerful
I feel like a carton of eggs holding up an elephant.Collection: Eggs
The ordinary can be like medicine.Collection: Medicine
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.Collection: Stupid
I remember when people used to think I was smart. I remember when people used to think my brain was useful. Damaged by water, sure. And ready to seizure at any moment. But still useful, and maybe even a little bit beautiful and sacred and magical.Collection: Beautiful
She was in pain and I loved her, sort of loved her, I guess, so I kind of had to love her pain, too.Collection: Pain
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)Collection: Dream
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.Collection: Together
And believe me, a good piece of chicken can make anybody believe in the existence of God.Collection: Believe
Poetry = Anger x ImaginationCollection: Anger
When it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing.Collection: Laughter
I'm a poet who can whine in meterCollection: Poet
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.Collection: Beautiful
We are taught to take the bread into our bodies as proof of Jesus's body.Collection: Jesus
Somebody dies and people eat your food. Funny how that works.Collection: People
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.Collection: What If
I ain't interested in the truth. I'm interested in the way things should be.Collection: Way
And I couldn't make fun of her for that dream. It was my dream, too. And Indian boys weren't supposed to dream like that. And white girls from small towns weren't supposed to dream big, either. We were supposed to be happy with our limitations. But there was no way Penelope and I were going to sit still. Nope, we both wanted to fly.Collection: Girl
There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away. (107)Collection: Pain
That's the whole point of life, you know? To meet new people.Collection: People
We Indians really should be better liars, considering how often we've been lied to.Collection: Liars
One play can change your momentum forever.Collection: Play