Anybody can act violently - there is nothing to it; but not every person is able to destroy his enemy with words.

I write in order to find out what I truly know and how I really feel about certain things. Writing requires me to go much deeper into my thoughts and memories than conversation does. Writing provides the solitude necessary to reflect on being in this world.

the snow ... came in thick tufts like new wool - washed before the weaver spins it.

The American public has difficulty believing ... [that] injustice continues to be inflicted upon Indian people because Americans assume that the sympathy and tolerance they feel toward Indians is somehow 'felt' or transferred to the government policy that deals with Indians. This is not the case.

The only way to get change is not through the courts or - heaven forbid - the politicians, but through a change of human consciousness and through a change of heart. Only through the arts - music, poetry, dance, painting, writing - "can we really reach each other.

But sometimes what we call 'memory' and what we call 'imagination' are not so easily distinguished.

Moonflowers blossom in the sand hills before dawn, just as I followed him.