49 Quotes by Joseph Boyden

Being a mixed-blood person of Ojibway and European ancestry, I always found that I only heard one side of the story - that was the conquerers' side, the side of the French Jesuit missionaries that came to live in what is now Ontario.

There's the concept that dreams are as important - if not more important - than reality. The attention that one pays to those things in the shadows is very much a part of the Indian experience.

The history needs to serve the story, not the story the history. But at the same time you can't stray too far.

I never want to play down to the reader. I think readers are willing to go along if they’re intrigued.

We aren’t the masters of the earth. We’re the servants.

Sometimes, it’s not getting what we want that offers us the most important Lessons.

I say that humans are the only ones in this world that need everything within it. but there is nothing in the world that needs us for its survival. We aren’t the masters of the earth. We’re the servants.

I’m fascinated by the magic realism used by many writers. I think it goes hand-in-hand with the Indian experience. It’s a very different way of viewing the world.

Canada and America are very, very different. It’s true that we share a language and many customs. But Americans have a very different view of the world.