Thomas Builds The Fire Quotes & Sayings

Thomas Builds-the-Fire's stories climbed into your clothes like sad, gave you itches that could not be scratched. If you repeated eve a sentence from one of those stories, your throat was never the same again. Those stories hung in your clothes and hair like smoke, and no amount of laundry soap or shampoo washed them out. Victor and Junior often tried to beat those stories out of Thomas, tied him down and taped his mouth shut. They pretended to be friendly and tried to sweet talk Thomas into temporary silences, made promises about beautiful Indian women and cases of Diet Pepsi. But none of that stopped Thomas, who talked and talked. — Sherman Alexie

We all hope for love, enjoy it and desire it, but expecting and demanding it of others fouls up a good relationship. — Alan E. Nelson

Having completed its conquest of California in 1844, the United States looked across the Pacific for new business opportunities. In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo (then called Edo) Bay with four men-of-war, and handed over a letter for the Japanese emperor from the American president which began with the ominous words, 'You know that the United States of America now extend from sea to sea.' Denied an audience with the emperor, Perry retreated with subtle threats to return with more firepower if the Japanese did not agree to open their ports to American trade. They refused. He did as he said; and the Japanese succumbed. — Pankaj Mishra

We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct. — Benjamin Franklin

I never thought that having my world blown right open would feel so goddamn good. — Moira Fowley-Doyle

Mozart has the classic purity of light and the blue ocean; Beethoven the romantic grandeur which belongs to the storms of air and sea, and while the soul of Mozart seems to dwell on the ethereal peaks of Olympus, that of Beethoven climbs shuddering the storm-beaten sides of a Sinai. Blessed be they both! Each represents a moment of the ideal life, each does us good. Our love is due to both. — Henri Frederic Amiel

...there are some children who aren't really children at all, they're just pillars of flame that burn everything they touch. And there are some children who are just pillars of ash, that fall apart when you touch them..."
~ Thomas Builds-the-Fire (played by Evan Adams)
in Alexie's "Smoke Signals — Sherman Alexie

I could go insane if I obsessed over every little detail of all of my companies. My management philosophy is to pay attention to the vital few and ignore the trivial many. — John Paul DeJoria

We do not read the Bible somewhere off by ourselves in a corner; we read it as a community of faith, together with the whole church in all times and places. — Michael S. Horton

It's really been a better situation for me being with the Crush than it would if I were with the Broncos because this has given me a lot more broad range. — John Elway

They don't need walls and water to keep the prisoners in, not when they're trapped inside their own heads, incapable of a single cheerful thought. Most go mad within weeks - Lupin — J.K. Rowling

In all those stories, I could fly. — Sherman Alexie

Thomas Builds-the-Fire closed his eyes and told this story:
"I remember when I had this dream that told me to go to Spokane, to stand by the falls in the middle of the city and wait for a sign. I knew I had to go there but I didn't have a car. Didn't have a license. I was only thirteen. So I walked all the way, took me all day, and I finally made it to the falls. I stood there for an hour waiting. Then your dad came walking up. 'What the hell are you doing here? He asked me. I said, 'waiting for a vision.' Then your father said, 'All you're going to get here is mugged.' So he drove me to Denny's, bought me dinner, and then drove me home to the reservation. For a long time I was mad because I thought my dreams had lied to me. But they didn't. Your dad was my vision. 'Take care of each other' is what my dreams were saying. 'Take care of each other. — Sherman Alexie