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Sherman Alexie Quotes

Powerful Sherman Alexie for Daily Growth

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

- Sherman Alexie

Purpose, Authority Figures, Rebel

In the middle of the night, when you're ambiguously ethnic, like me, when you're brown, beige, mauve, siena, one of those lighter browns in the Crayola box. You have to be careful of the cops and robbers, because nobody's quite sure what you are, but everybody has assumptions.

- Sherman Alexie

Everybody, Cops, Browns, Brown

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.

- Sherman Alexie

My Life, Young, Needs, Native Americans

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

- Sherman Alexie

Reading, Rest, Indians, Native

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

- Sherman Alexie

Young, Idea, Eden, Adult

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

- Sherman Alexie

Interesting, Real, Attic, Cellar

The form I most enjoy writing is the sonnet or sonnet-like forms, where you have a - you know, three stanzas or two stanzas that lead into a concluding couplet.

- Sherman Alexie

Enjoy, Three, Two, Sonnet

In a real-world way, my gifts are very limited in terms of what I can do.

- Sherman Alexie

Very, Limited, Terms, Real-World

I think a lot of Indians want Indian artists to be cultural cheerleaders rather than cultural investigators.

- Sherman Alexie

Think, I Think, Rather, Investigators

All art is exploitation.

- Sherman Alexie

Art, Exploitation

Certainly I'm angry at the way Indians have been treated and continue to be treated. But I don't think it's a helpless emotion.

- Sherman Alexie

Think, Treated, Certainly, Helpless

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

- Sherman Alexie

Reaction, Been, Were, Colonization

I think that white women are more apt to read laterally. So I think there's some strong identification for women, and their political and social positions, and minorities. I think that the political power of, let's say, the average Indian man and a white woman are pretty equal.

- Sherman Alexie

Strong, Average, Some, Indian

I was a controversial figure on my reservation when I was a kid. I was mouthy and opinionated and arrogant. Nothing has changed.

- Sherman Alexie

Kid, Arrogant, Figure, Controversial

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

- Sherman Alexie

Always, Mostly, His, Sober

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

- Sherman Alexie

Song, Come, Tape, Mix

Nostalgia is always doomed and dooming.

- Sherman Alexie

Nostalgia, Always, Doomed

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

- Sherman Alexie

Dream, Needed, Most, Frightened

I had the feeling I was going to be successful, and I didn't want to be another disappointing Indian.

- Sherman Alexie

Want, Going, Another, Indian

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

- Sherman Alexie

Mirror, Career, Means, Indian

There have been players with Indian heritage, but there hasn't been a Native-American professional basketball player who became a regular for all sorts of social and political reasons.

- Sherman Alexie

Been, Reasons, Became, Indian

I look more Indian when I'm serious.

- Sherman Alexie

Look, Serious, More, Indian

I thought I'd been condescended to as an Indian - that was nothing compared to the condescension for writing young adult literature.

- Sherman Alexie

Thought, Young, Been, Indian

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.

- Sherman Alexie

Think, I Think, Tendency, Forms

My wife was the first romantic partner who understood both American and native parts of me - not so much the positive stuff, but the damage.

- Sherman Alexie

Wife, American, Damage, Understood

My father was sleepless most of his life. So by the age of five, I was awake with him all night long, watching bad television or we'd lie in the same bed, and I'd read my comic books while he read his latest spy or mystery novel.

- Sherman Alexie

Bad, Bed, Comic Books, Spy

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

- Sherman Alexie

Thankful, Thanks, Note, Send

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.

- Sherman Alexie

Ironic, Very, About, Reservations

I'm a method writer. In order to write about the emotion, I have to experience it. I get physically tired and exhausted, devoting hours and hours and hours to it.

- Sherman Alexie

Hours, About, Method, Order

I don't have to participate in another culture's ceremonies in order to respect that culture.

- Sherman Alexie

Ceremonies, Participate, Order

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