Sherman Alexie Quotes

77 Sourced Quotes

William always scanned the airports and airplanes for little brown guys who reeked of fundamentalism. That meant William was equally afraid of Osama bin Laden and Jerry Falwell wearing the last vestiges of a summer tan. William himself was a little brown guy, so the other travelers were always sniffing around him, but he smelled only of Dove soap, Mennen deoderant, and sarcasm.

Sherman Alexie
If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing.

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.

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

Sherman Alexie
When a glass sits on a table here, people don't wonder if it's half filled or half empty. They just hope it's good beer.

Sherman Alexie
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-orange leaf some little kid picks up and pastes in his scrapbook.

Sherman Alexie
Nurse: You guys are like the Lone Ranger and Tonto.
Thomas: We're more like Tonto and Tonto.

Sherman Alexie
Somebody dies and people eat your food. Funny how that works.

Sherman Alexie
I suddenly understood that if every moment of a book should be taken seriously, then every moment of a life should be taken seriously as well.

Sherman Alexie
Thomas: Sometimes it's a good day to die, and sometimes it's a good day to have breakfast.

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.

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.

Sherman Alexie
We Indians really should be better liars, considering how often we've been lied to.

Sherman Alexie
I've learned that the worst thing a parent can do is ignore their children

Sherman Alexie
I didn't know what to say to her. What do you say to people when they ask how it feels to lose everything? When every planet in your solar system has exploded?

Sherman Alexie
I draw because words are too unpredictable. I draw because words are too limited. If you speak and write in English, or Spanish, or Chinese, or any other language, then only a certain percentage of human beings will get your meaning. But when you draw a picture everybody can understand it. If I draw a cartoon of a flower, then every man, woman, and child in the world can look at it and say, "That's a flower.

Sherman Alexie
At the halfway point of any drunken night, there is a moment when an Indian realizes he cannot turn back toward tradition and that he has no map to guide him toward the future.

Sherman Alexie