“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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“You want to brawl. You want to fight. Fighting tricks you into believing you can change the past, even when the past is dead and gone and all of it ashes.”
― Ilsa J. Bick, quote from Ashes
“Every belief is a belief that falls short; one never wholly believes what one believes.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from Being and Nothingness
“That's life. We all go through the tractor blades now and then. We all get bruised, and we all get cut. Sometimes the blade cuts deep. The lucky ones come through with a few scratches, a little blood, but even that isn't the most important thing. The most important thing is having someone there to scoop you up, to hold you tight, and to tell you everything is all right.”
― Vicki Myron, quote from Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
“My heart leaps as I remember this morning's note. This boy is my weirdo.
My weirdo is hot.”
― Cat Patrick, quote from Forgotten
“There were several recently dug graves in the churchyard, but I found only one that was freshly dug and covered with fresh flowers. I had known Anna only from a few laughing words, from the light in her eyes, a touch of hands and a fleeting kiss, but I felt an ache inside me such as I had not felt since I was a child, since my father’s death. I looked up at the church steeple, a dark arrow pointing at the moon and beyond, and tried with all my heart and mind to believe she was up there somewhere in that vast expanse of infinity, up there in Sunday-school Heaven, in Big Joe’s happy Heaven. I couldn’t bring myself to think it. I knew she was lying in the cold earth at my feet. I knelt down and kissed the earth, then left her there. The moon sailed above me, following behind me, through the trees, lighting my way back to camp. By the time I got there I had no more tears left to cry. The”
― Michael Morpurgo, quote from Private Peaceful
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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.
