Sherman Alexie

If it's fiction, then it better be true.

— Sherman Alexie

“we worship the salmon because we eat salmon”

— Sherman Alexie

Don't live up to your stereotypes.

— Sherman Alexie

All art is exploitation.

— Sherman Alexie

I think I was born with a suitcase.

— Sherman Alexie

Spiritual matters should be private.

— Sherman Alexie

It's not oil that runs the world, it's shame.

— Sherman Alexie

“I'm a freak with power.”

— Sherman Alexie

“Survival = Anger × Imagination. Imagination is the only weapon on the reservation.”

— Sherman Alexie

When you read a piece of writing that you admire, send a note of thanks to the author.

— Sherman Alexie

“What's real? I ain't interested in what's real. I'm interested in how things should be.”

— Sherman Alexie

“And the tombstone will never answer. Because the dead have only the voices we give to them.”

— Sherman Alexie

“Jesus, I don’t want to die today or tomorrow, but I don’t want to live forever.”

— Sherman Alexie

“I had left the tribe, and I was being punished for that.”

— Sherman Alexie

“I like to go to garage sales with my mom, so maybe my name should be OLD TOYS ARE AWESOME.”

— Sherman Alexie

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

— Sherman Alexie

Well, I think the worst part about tribalism is its tendency to fundamentalize, and if I can fight fundamentalism in any of…

— Sherman Alexie

Also because I'm ambiguously ethnic looking, you know, I come to New York and I can be anything. People generally think I'm…

— Sherman Alexie

“We shuffled past white customers who stared at us with hate, pity, disgust, and anger—the Four Horsemen of the Anti-Indian Apocalypse.”

— Sherman Alexie

and then she asks me how many sexual partners I've had and I say one or two depending on your definition of…

— 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…

— Sherman Alexie

“Seattle is Sweden! Extremely liberal, progressive, and very white, with a strong undercurrent of racism.”

— Sherman Alexie

Like any good shaman, professional baseball player, or politician, my mother always answered questions with questions.

— Sherman Alexie

“(I think Rowdy might be the most important person in my life. maybe more important than my family.) Can your best friend…

— Sherman Alexie

Let us now celebrate the literary allusion. Let us now celebrate the trope and willful enjambment. Let us now celebrate the assonance…

— Sherman Alexie

“I realized that my mother had not taught us the tribal language because she knew her children would not be strong enough…

— Sherman Alexie

I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers.…

— Sherman Alexie

In a sense, you're always mythologizing your life; it's always an effort to make yourself epic. At least in fiction you can…

— Sherman Alexie

My father was sleepless most of his life. So by the age of five, I was awake with him all night long,…

— Sherman Alexie

“I thought maybe if you wore different clothes at school,' Paul said, 'maybe you could start a trend. You'd be original.' 'Oh,…

— Sherman Alexie

“Then she tells me that Jesus is still here because Jesus was once here. And parts of Jesus are still floating in…

— Sherman Alexie

Last September 16th, I was walking in downtown Seattle when this pick-up truck pulls up in front of me. Guy leans out…

— Sherman Alexie

“He felt split in two, one crazy man eating hair and one rational man watching a crazy man eat hair. He chewed…

— Sherman Alexie

“And now I need To do something Excessively Indian So I will name All of the pine trees On the reservation. That…

— Sherman Alexie

“You know," I said to my sister later at the funeral. "I think Mom is telling the truth about losing us. We're…

— Sherman Alexie

“Utensil While feasting On venison stew After we buried my mother, I recognized my spoon And realized my family Had been using…

— Sherman Alexie

“And I realized that sure Indians were drunk and sad and displaced and crazy and mean but dang we knew how to…

— Sherman Alexie

I'll quit eating meat when you get a cow out here to beat me at a poetry slam. Only so many words…

— Sherman Alexie

“Thomas Builds-the-Fire's stories climbed into your clothes like sad, gave you itches that could not be scratched. If you repeated eve a…

— Sherman Alexie

“1 Cain lifts Crow, that heavy black bird and strikes down Abel. Damn, says Crow, I guess this is just the beginning.…

— Sherman Alexie