Vizenor Gerald Quotes & Sayings

The first Western teacher of English in Japan was a Native American. — Gerald Vizenor

Race is an invention, not a noticeable genetic presence, and cultural traits are brute concoctions of the social sciences. — Gerald Vizenor

If an angel should fly from heaven and inform the saint personally of the Saviour's love to him, the evidence would not be one whit more satisfactory than that which is borne in the heart by the Holy Ghost. — Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Trickster stories are pleasurable, contradictory, annoying, abrasive. They're powerful, transformational acts of liberation because they are not nailed down to the real, to the representation of something in the world. — Gerald Vizenor

There are 13 stories in 'The Fencepost Chronicles' about corrupt tribal leaders, trouble on the reserve, survival schemes, and communal drinking. — Gerald Vizenor

Whether you are aware of them or not, whether you recognize them as spiritual or not, you probably have had the experiences of silence, or transcendence, or the Divine-a few seconds, a few minutes that seem out of time; a moment when the ordinary looks beautiful, glowing; a deep sense of being at peace, feeling happy for no reason. When these experiences come ... believe in them. They reflect your true nature. — Ravi Shankar

My tendency to idealize Western civilization arises from my nationalistic desire to use the West in order to reform China. But this has led me to overlook the flaws of Western culture. — Liu Xiaobo

Confucius would give his seat to an old woman. Communist cadres, on the other hand, took the best seats and called it a cultural revolution. — Gerald Vizenor

Indians are usually seen as capsulized: limited to one environment, with the illusion of stability in that environment. But Indians have been engaged all over the world for centuries, in Europe, even in Asia. — Gerald Vizenor

Naanabozho was the first tribal trickster on the earth. — Gerald Vizenor

If you desecrate a white grave, you wind up sitting in prison. But desecrate an Indian grave, and you get a Ph.D. — Gerald Vizenor

Life is a chance, a story is a chance. That I am here is a chance. — Gerald Vizenor

It's so difficult to write in motion and get rid of the past tense, and also to create a sense of impermanence. — Gerald Vizenor

The virtue of obedience makes the will supple ... It inspires the courage with which to fulfill the most difficult tasks. — John Vianney

Even the earliest cave paintings in France and Spain had natural motion. — Gerald Vizenor

The great liberation of imaginative writing is that you're not held back by the facts. — Gerald Vizenor

There is a sense of motion and a concise, immediate image in haikus and Anishinaabe dream songs. — Gerald Vizenor

I'm a visual thinker. With almost all of my writing, I start with something that's visual: either the way someone says something that is visual or an actual visual description of a scene and color. — Gerald Vizenor

W. P. Kinsella, who was born on a farm near Edmunton, Alberta, has earned wide recognition for his wild imagination and rash humor as a writer. — Gerald Vizenor

few days, or even weeks." Weeks. "And now we beg, borrow or steal another vehicle and slip out of town?" "Bingo." Ray flipped the glove compartment open and dug around inside, extracting a flashlight, some maps and a first aid kit. "Though borrowing is out. We don't wanna lead men — Norah Wilson

The idea of victimage is a dreadful thing, a product of a safe middle-class perspective. What people who are not safe develop is a tragic wisdom, a wisdom that embraces contradiction and seeks a sense of balance rather than going to extremes. — Gerald Vizenor

Mixed-bloods loosen the seams in the shrouds of identities. — Gerald Vizenor

I use not casual phrases but imagistic phrases that create a rhythm of natural presence. — Gerald Vizenor