“What kind of life can you have in a house without books?”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“I learned how to stop crying.
I learned how to hide inside of myself.
I learned how to be somebody else.
I learned how to be cold and numb.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“Yes, I am Irish and Indian, which would be the coolest blend in the world if my parents were around to teach me how to be Irish and Indian. But they're not here and haven't been for years, so I'm not really Irish or Indian. I am a blank sky, a human solar eclipse.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“Is revenge a circle inside of a circle inside of a circle?”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“I hate my country. There are so many rich people who don't share their shit. They're like spoiled little ten-year-old bullies on the playground. They hog the monkey bars and the slide and the seesaw. And if you complain even a little bit, if you try to get just one spin on the merry-go-round, the bullies beat the shit out of you.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“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, quote from Flight
“Funny how a little politeness can change people's minds.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“Then I remember that God is really, really old. So maybe God has God arthritis. And maybe that's why the world sucks. Maybe God's hands and fingers don't work as well as they used to.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“But I'm also addicted to books. And I know there has never been a human being or a television show, no matter how great, that could measure up to a great book.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“Is there really a difference between that killing and this killing? Does God approve of some killing and not other killing? If I kill these soldiers so that Small Saint and Bow Boy can escape, does that make me a hero?”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“I bet you a million dollars there are less than five books in this whole house. What kind of life can you have in a house without books?”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“How can you tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys when they say the same things?”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“But now I want it to pour. I want it to storm. I want to be clean.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“I am surrounded by people who trust me to be a respectful stranger”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“I measure men by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, and I find all of them are assholes.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“If you can catch crazy, I'm a walking epidemic.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“They're not starving to death, but they look hollow-eyed and barren, like they've been fed just enough food but never enough happiness.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“My heart is beating a punk rock song against my chest.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“I am surrounded by people who trust me to be a respectful stranger. Am I trustworthy? Are any of us trustworthy? I hope so.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“People smell different, too. Sometimes you meet people and you think they're nice and decent, and it seems like you might be friends. But you get closer to them and they stink. They smell like rotten fish or dead racoons or something. And you just have to run away.
Later, you mention the bad smell to your other friends and they say they didn't smell anything different. That stink is reserved especially for you.
But, hey, it works the other way, too. Sometimes you meet a person, and you catch the scent and it's like you've smelled a garden in Heaven, because all you want to do is follow that person around and breathe in for the rest of your life.
And later you mention this great scent to your other friends, and they say they didn't smell anything different.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“I'm dying from about ninety-nine kinds of shame”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“And anger is never added to anger. It multiplies.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“My memory is strange that way. I often remember people I've never met and events and places I've never seen.
I don't think I'm some mystical bastard. I just think I pay attention to the details.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
“I know there has never been a human being or a television show, no matter how great, that could measure up to a great book.”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight
Sherman Alexie
Born place: in Spokane, Washington, The United States
Born date October 7, 1966
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“I made a long speech in bad French in which I admitted that I was no critic, that I was always passionate and prejudiced, that I had no reverence for anything except what I liked. I told them that I was an ignoramus, which they tried to deny vigorously. I saidl would rather tell them stories. I began—about a bum who had tried to hit me up for a dime one evening as I was walking towards the Brooklyn Bridge. I explained how I had said No to the man automatically and then, after I had walked a few yards it suddenly came to me that a man had asked me for something and I ran back and spoke to him. But instead of giving him a dime or a quarter, which I could easily have done, I told him that I was broke, that I had wanted to let him know that, that was all. And the man had said to me—"do you mean that, buddy? Why, if that's the way it is, I'll be glad to give you a dime myself." And I let him give it to me, and I thanked him warmly, and walked off.
They thought it a very interesting story. So that's how it was in America? Strange country ... anything could happen there.
"Yes," I said, "a very strange country," and I thought to myself that it was wonderful not to be there any more and God willing I'd never return to it.
"And what is it about Greece that makes you like it so much?" asked someone.
I smiled. "The light and the poverty," I said.
"You're a romantic," said the man.
"Yes," I said, "I'm crazy enough to believe that the happiest man on earth is the man with the fewest needs. And I also believe that if you have light, such as you have here, all ugliness is obliterated. Since I've come to your country I know that light is holy: Greece is a holy land to me."
"But have you seen how poor the people are, how wretchedly they live?"
"I've seen worse wretchedness in America," I said. "Poverty alone doesn't make people wretched."
"You can say that because you have sufficient …."
"I can say it because I've been poor all my life," I retorted. "I'm poor now," I added. "I have just'enough to get back to Athens. When I get to Athens I'll have to think how to get more. It isn't money that sustains me—it's the faith I have in myself, in my own powers. In spirit I am a millionaire—maybe that's the best thing about America, that you believe you'll rise again."
"Yes, yes," said Tsoutsou, clapping his hands, "that's the wonderful thing about America: you don't know what defeat is." He filled the glasses again and rose to make a toast "To America!" he said, "long may it live!"
"To Henry Miller!" said another, "because he believes in himself.”
― Henry Miller, quote from The Colossus of Maroussi
“If you don’t give guidance to your daughter, she’ll come up with answers of her own—which means your authority will be replaced by someone else’s.”
― quote from Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know
“El amor nos da una especia de religión para nosotros mismos, respetamos en nosotros otra vida; se hace entonces el más horrible de los males, el mal con una esperanza, una esperanza que nos hace aceptar los tormentos.”
― Honoré de Balzac, quote from The Wild Ass's Skin
“I pity the man who can travel from Dan to Beersheba, and cry, ‘Tis all barren—and so it is; and so is all the world to him who will not cultivate the fruits it offers. I declare, said I, clapping my hands chearily together, that was I in a desart, I would find out wherewith in it to call forth my affections—If I could not do better, I would fasten them upon some sweet myrtle, or seek some melancholy cypress to connect myself to—I would court their shade, and greet them kindly for their protection—I would cut my name upon them, and swear they were the loveliest trees throughout the desert: if their leaves wither’d, I would teach myself to mourn, and when they rejoiced, I would rejoice along with them.”
― Laurence Sterne, quote from A Sentimental Journey
“Like you? I go out of here every morning… bust my butt…putting up with them crackers everyday…cause I like you? You about the biggest fool I ever saw. It’s my JOB. It’s my RESPONSIBILITY! You understand that? A man got to take care of his family. You live in my house… sleep on my bed clothes…fill you belly up with my food… cause you my son. You my flesh and blood. Not ‘cause I like you! Cause it’s my duty to take care of you. I OWE a responsibility to you! Let’s get this straight right here… before it go along any further… I ain’t got to like you. Mr. Rand don’t five me money come payday cause he likes me. He gives me cause he OWE me. I done give you everything I had to give you. I gave you your life! Me and your mama worked that out between us. And liking your black ass wasn’t part of the bargain. Don’t try and go through life worrying about if somebody like you or not. You best be making sure they doing right by you. You understand what I’m saying, boy?”
- August Wilson, Fences, 1986.”
― August Wilson, quote from Fences
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