“If you’re good at it, and you love it, and it helps you navigate the river of the world, then it can’t be wrong.”

Sherman Alexie may be my favorite living author. Consistently fresh and funny, disarmingly real and honest to the bone, he also weaves a great story with unforgettable characters who come alive in his words. I would highly recommend anything he writes but in particular The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven – it is a modern classic.

For today’s Saturday Life Quotes I have included words from Sherman taken from his book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian: 

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

“Life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community.”

“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.”

“I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,’ I said. ‘By Black and White. By Indian and White. But I know this isn’t true. The world is only broken into two tribes: the people who are assholes and the people who are not.”

“I always 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.”

“I’m quite aware of my differences. I wouldn’t classify them as weird”

“You can do it.” Coach said. “I can do it.” “You can do it.” “I can do it.” Do you understand how amazing it is to hear that from an adult? Do you know how amazing it is to hear that from anybody? It’s one of the simplest sentences in the world, just four words, but they’re the four hugest words in the world when they’re put together.”

“It’s a weird thing. Reservations were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear. But somehow or another, Indians have forgotten the reservations were meant to be death camps.”

“Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.”

“If you care about something enough, it’s going to make you cry. But you have to use it. Use your tears. Use your pain. Use your fear. Get mad.”

“When it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing.”