Quotessence
Home / Authors / Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie Quotes

Poet

Filter quotes by topic

AllIndianKnowsPeopleBookThinkingIfsWorldWritingWayWhiteSherman AlexiePovertyKidsMeanNativeNative AmericanWantWellsMenParent

Famous Sherman Alexie Quotes

“Last night I missed two free throws which would have won the game against the best team in the state. The farm town high school I play for is nicknamed the "Indians," and I'm probably the only actual Indian ever to play for a team with such a mascot. This morning I pick up the sports page and read the headline: INDIANS LOSE AGAIN. Go ahead and tell me none of this is supposed to hurt me very much.”

SportsIndianNative AmericanAmerican IndianRedskinsSherman Alexie
Book:The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Create image

“There's this whole notion of being an Indian - the idea that "warrior" is a positive description of us [Indians as native Americans]. When an Indian guy does well, he's a warrior, even now. He could be a computer salesman, but if he does well, he's a warrior. I'm not a pacifist by any measure, but I'm also fully aware that the reasons I might go to war could be very dubious.”

IfsWellsDoeIdeasWarReasonWholeMightGuyComputerNotionWarriorIndianNativeDescriptionNative AmericanSalesmanPacifistDubious
Author:Sherman Alexie
Create image

“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”

WayHeartDreamHandsEarthSongDiesHouseLostSinBoysFireDoorsMy HeartForgottenEdgesCancerIndianAshesLocksFistsClosingBlanketClicksHouse Fires
Author:Sherman Alexie
Create image

“Gordie, the white boy genius, gave me this book by a Russian dude named Tolstoy, who wrote, 'Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' Well, I hate to argue with a Russian genius, but Tolstoy didn't know Indians, and he didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the same exact reasons: the frikkin' booze.”

KnowsWayWellsBookReasonHateWhiteBoysGeniusI HateArguingUnhappyIndianBoozeHappy FamilyUnhappy Family
Author:Sherman Alexie
Create image

“But something magical happened to me when I went to Reardan. Overnight I became a good player. I suppose it had something to do with confidence. I mean, I'd always been the lowest Indian on the reservation totem pole - I wasn't expected to be good so I wasn't. But in Reardan, my coach and the other players wanted me to be good. They needed me to be good. They expected me to be good. And so I became good. I wanted to live up to the expectations. I guess that's what it comes down to. The power of expectations. And as they expected more of me, I expected more of myself, and it just grew and grew.”

MeanWantedPlayerHappenedGrewNeededExpectationsBe GoodExpectedCoachesIndianLowestReservationsTotems
Author:Sherman Alexie
Create image

“That's how I do this life sometimes by making the ordinary just like magic and just like a card trick and just like a mirror and just like disappearing. Every Indian learns how to be a magician and learns how to misdirect attention and the dark hand is always quicker than the white eye and no matter how close you get to my heart you will never find out my secrets and I'll never tell you and I'll never show you the same trick twice. I'm traveling heavy with illusions.”

HeartSometimesMatterShowsHandsEyeDarkWhiteSecretAttentionMagicMy HeartOrdinaryIllusionMirrorsHeavyDisappearTricksCardsThis LifeIndianMagicianCard Tricks
Book:The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Create image

“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.”

PeopleKnowsShouldWellsSaidCountryWantedFightingTroubleFitCarefulDrivingNervousIndianGirlfriendNeighborhoodOfficersSteamMy GirlfriendProfile
Book:The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Create image

“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.”

PeopleThinkingWayWantTryingIdeasSpiritualLiteratureImaginationCreativeOrdinaryEverydayStuckIndianNativeSomething NewNative AmericanEveryday LifeOrdinary LifeAmerican IndianEnvironmentalistAmerican LiteraturePortrayingSpiritual Indian
Author:Sherman Alexie
Create image

“Reardan is the rich white farm town that sits in the wheat fields exactly 22 miles away from the Rez. And it's a hick town I suppose filled with farmers and rednecks and racists cops who stop every Indian that drives through. During one week when I was little dad got stopped three times for DWI- Driving While Indian.”

LittlesThreeWhiteRichWeekFieldsDadTownsFilledDrivingMilesIndianRacistFarmsFarmersCopThree TimesRedneckWheatMiles AwayHicksWheat Fields
Author:Sherman Alexie
Create image