Top 60 Angeline Boulley Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Inaction is a powerful choice.”

— Angeline Boulley

2. “Grief is a cruel and sneaky bastard.”

— Angeline Boulley

3. “People say to think seven generations ahead when making big decisions, because our future ancestors – those yet to arrive, who will one day become the Elders – live with the choices we make today.”

— Angeline Boulley

4. “Love is a promise. And promises you don’t keep are the worst lies of all.”

— Angeline Boulley

5. “I set out to write Firekeeper’s Daughter because there are simply too few stories told by and about Native Americans, especially from a contemporary point of view. We exist and have dynamic experiences beyond history books or stories set long ago.”

— Angeline Boulley

6. “Mazina’iganan mino-mshkikiiwin aawen. Books are good medicine!”

— Angeline Boulley

7. “I’m reminded that our Elders are our greatest resource, embodying culture, and community. Their stories connect us to our language, medicines, land, Clans, songs, and traditions. They are a bridge between the Before and the Now, guiding those of us who will carry on in the Future.”

— Angeline Boulley

8. “When our loved ones die, the love stays alive in the present.”

— Angeline Boulley

9. “It wasn’t just generational trauma that got stored in our blood and passed along, but our resilience and language too.”

— Angeline Boulley

10. “When someone dies, everything about them becomes past tense. Except for the grief. Grief stays in the present.”

— Angeline Boulley

11. “Kindness is something that seems small, Daunis, but it’s like tossing a pebble into a pond and the ripples reach further than you thought.”

— Angeline Boulley

12. “Strong Ojibwe women are like the tide, reminding us of forces too powerful to control. Weak people fear that strength. They won’t vote for a Nish kwe they fear.”

— Angeline Boulley

13. “Love means wanting you to have a good life, even if I’m not in it.”

— Angeline Boulley

14. “Auntie told me once that a girl needs at least one grown man in her life who sees her worth as inherent. Values her just as she is, not dependent upon her appearance or accomplishments.”

— Angeline Boulley

15. “Grief is a cruel and sneaky bastard. You love a person and then they’re gone. Past tense. You forget them for an hour, a day, a week. How is that even possible? It happens because memories are fickle; they can fade.”

— Angeline Boulley

16. “It’s hard to let people down, and harder still when your expectations for yourself are even higher.”

— Angeline Boulley

17. “We love imperfect people. We can love them and not condone their actions and beliefs.”

— Angeline Boulley

18. “Auntie’s voice wraps me like a blanket. ‘Please be careful. Not every Elder is a cultural teacher, and not all cultural teachers are Elders. It’s okay to listen to what people say and only hold on to the parts that resonate with you. It’s okay to leave the rest behind. Trust yourself to know the difference’.”

— Angeline Boulley

19. “The Seven Grandfathers are teachings about living the Anishinaabe minobimaadiziwin – our good way of life – through love, humility, respect, honesty, bravery, wisdom, and truth. I include one in my prayers each morning to help me become a strong Nish kwe like my aunt.”

— Angeline Boulley

20. “Wisdom is not bestowed. In its raw state, it is the heartbreak of knowing things you wish you didn’t.”

— Angeline Boulley

21. “Ninde gidayan.’ You have my heart.”

— Angeline Boulley

22. “Maybe there’s a word in Anishinaabemowin for when you find solid footing in the rubble after a tragedy.”

— Angeline Boulley

23. “I loved GrandMary and I know that she loved me. Correction – I love her, and she loves me. When our loved ones die, the love always stays alive in the present.”

— Angeline Boulley

24. “Women are at their most powerful during menstruation, connected to life-giving forces. The reason we don’t use traditional medicines and we’re not around ceremonial fires during this time is that we carry our own medicine and fire within. Others may act as if it’s something annoying or unclean, but even the way we refer to menstruation is respectful. Your Moon is a mighty time.”

— Angeline Boulley

25. “She is a woman who is complex and sometimes exhausted, but mostly brave. She loves imperfect people fiercely.”

— Angeline Boulley

26. “Seven Grandfathers – love, respect, honesty, humility, bravery, wisdom, and truth.”

— Angeline Boulley

27. “She ends the call with “Be a smart kwe. Lust doesn’t last, but herpes is forever.”

— Angeline Boulley

28. “When you love someone, but don’t like parts of them, it complicates your memories of them when they’re gone.”

— Angeline Boulley

29. “Real love honors your spirit. If you need a medicine to create or keep it, that’s possession and control. Not love.”

— Angeline Boulley

30. “I am so tired. The weight of my expendability is crushing.”

— Angeline Boulley

31. “Correction – I love her, and she loves me. When our loved ones die, the love stays alive in the present.”

— Angeline Boulley

32. “Pay no attention to the curious photos on the wall. These people will be unrecognizable soon. Even to themselves.”

— Angeline Boulley

33. “Shafts of light fan out from the cloud, as if Sugar Island is the source of the sun’s rays.”

— Angeline Boulley

34. “Everything has strings attached. Unintended consequences. The shove from behind that you never saw coming.”

— Angeline Boulley

35. “Voters want pretty lies over ugly truths.”

— Angeline Boulley

36. “You are fluent in a language when you dream in it.”

— Angeline Boulley

37. “Never argue with a geek. They use science and math like weapons.”

— Angeline Boulley

38. “It’s hard when being Native means different things depending on who’s asking and why.”

— Angeline Boulley

39. “Clear eyes and open hearts, as Auntie says when she means drug- and alcohol-free.”

— Angeline Boulley

40. “Good things end how they start.”

— Angeline Boulley

41. “New Normal, which is what I call what happens when your universe is shaken so badly you can never regain the same axis as before. But you try anyway.”

— Angeline Boulley

42. “Yeah. It’s your identity, but it gets defined or controlled by other people.”

— Angeline Boulley

43. “If you knew it was the last time you were going to see someone, would you say something profound? Would you share how much they meant to you? Would you ask any burning questions? Would you ask for forgiveness? Would you thank them?”

— Angeline Boulley

44. “To be wise is to live with an abundance of sight.”

— Angeline Boulley

45. “To know truth is to accept what cannot be known.”

— Angeline Boulley

46. “Children are never to blame for their parents’ lives. Parents are the adults; we are the ones responsible for our choices and how we handle things.” She sits taller at the revelation. “If I’m in limbo, it’s because I chose to remain there. Even inaction is a powerful choice.”

— Angeline Boulley

47. “We aren’t responsible for their choices,” I say. “We love imperfect people. We can love them and not condone their actions and beliefs.”

— Angeline Boulley

48. “Does closure come from forgiving others and being forgiven for our failings? Do we resist temptation from evil by believing in a righteous justice?”

— Angeline Boulley

49. “I admire warriors,” he says with such intensity it’s like a spell. “Those who are willing to do what others can’t or won’t do for the community.” He smiles. “Any questions?”

— Angeline Boulley

50. “You know, Pauline, you can be a princess without a boy saying so.”

— Angeline Boulley