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I used to think the world was broken down by tribes, I said. By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not.

Sherman Alexie

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Sherman Alexie
Age: 58
Born: 1966
Born: October 7
Film Director
Film Producer
Novelist
Poet
Screenwriter
Writer
Wellpinit
Washington
Sherman Joseph Alexie
Jr.
People
White
Black
True
Two
Assholes
Used
Insightful
Think
Tribes
Thinking
Indian
World
Broken

More quotes by Sherman Alexie

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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?
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Ialways think it's funny when Indians celebrate Thanksgiving. I mean, sure, the Indians and Pilgrims were best friends during the first Thanksgiving, but a few years later, the Pilgrims were shooting Indians. So I'm never quite sure why we eat Turkey like everybody else. (101)
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I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers. I don't write to protect them. It's far too late for that. I write to give them weapons-in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.
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When I had no money, and a great book came out, I couldn't get it. I had to wait. I love the idea that I have hardcover books here and at home that I haven't read yet. That's how I view that I'm rich. I have hardcover books I may never read.
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The ordinary can be like medicine.
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We're all travelling heavy with illusions.
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Like any good shaman, professional baseball player, or politician, my mother always answered questions with questions.
Sherman Alexie
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I'm quite aware of my differences. I wouldn't classify them as weird
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I hear poetry whenever I turn on the radio. Eminem is a better poet than just about everybody. He's better than Billy Collins he's better than Richard Wilbur he's better than me.
Sherman Alexie
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All I owe the world is my art.
Sherman Alexie
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I look more Indian when I'm serious.
Sherman Alexie
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My only purpose is to teach children to rebel against authority figures.
Sherman Alexie
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He loved her, of course, but better than that, he chose her, day after day. Choice: that was the thing.
Sherman Alexie
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I used to sleep with my books in piles all over my bed and sometimes they were the only thing keeping me warm and always the only thing keeping me alive. Books are the best and worst defense.
Sherman Alexie
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We can all learn from every text. Reading the work that disgusts you can only strengthen your core beliefs. I could teach a semester-long course based only on reading the local telephone book. All stories can be taught in valuable ways.
Sherman Alexie
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I grabbed my book and opened it up. I wanted to smell it. Heck, I wanted to kiss it. Yes, kiss it. That's right, I am a book kisser. Maybe that's kind of perverted or maybe it's just romantic and highly intelligent.
Sherman Alexie
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I've learned that the worst thing a parent can do is ignore their children
Sherman Alexie
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My parents banned nothing, though the Christian fundamentalists in my tribe held book-and-record burnings every now and again. So, yes, fundamentalist assholes can also be brown-skinned.
Sherman Alexie
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It's not oil that runs the world, it's shame.
Sherman Alexie
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and then she asks me how many sexual partners I've had and I say one or two depending on your definition of what I did to Custer . . .
Sherman Alexie