Quotes By 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.

All I owe the world is my art.

Sixty percent of all Indians live in urban areas, but nobody's writing about them. They're really an underrepresented population, and the ironic thing is very, very few of those we call Native American writers actually grew up on reservations, and yet most of their work is about reservations.

White Americans have a short memory.

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.

When you construct a mix tape, the first song you come out with has to be a barnburner.

My name is Sherman J. Alexie Jr., and I am an insomniac.

We all know the Indians were colonized by the Europeans, but every colonized Indian has been colonized by the Indian reaction to colonization.

My father was always depressed. When he was home and sober, he was mostly in his room.

A lot of people have no idea that right now Y.A. (young adult). is the Garden of Eden of literature.

There isn't a lot of poverty literature in the young-adult world. And I don't know why that is, but I think certainly I felt a gap.

My career means, if you're a non-Indian writing about Indians, at least there's one Indian in your rearview mirror.

I grew up in a storytelling culture, a tribal culture, but also in an American storytelling culture.

But the real interesting stuff is in the cellar and the attic.

The dream he needed most was the dream that frightened him more.

Writing is a lonely business.

I've come to the point in my life where I encourage young Native Americans to become much more selfish about their personal needs and wants.

You want the good life? You live where white people live, you go to school where white people go to school, and you shop where white people shop.

You'd never know it from reading the rest of the Native writers, but Indians actually grew up with American pop culture.

My only purpose is to teach children to rebel against authority figures.