Create Yours

Top 25 Joseph Boyden Quotes (2025 Update)

Joseph Boyden Quote: “We all fight on two fronts, the one facing the enemy, the one facing what we do to the enemy.”

1. “We all fight on two fronts, the one facing the enemy, the one facing what we do to the enemy.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “During World War I the Canadians were the shock troops. In many historical cases, Canadians have been very proficient at killing, and doing what we have to in order to survive. But no one wants to acknowledge that fact.”

2. “During World War I the Canadians were the shock troops. In many historical cases, Canadians have been very proficient at killing, and doing what we have to in order to survive. But no one wants to acknowledge that fact.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “I never want to play down to the reader. I think readers are willing to go along if they’re intrigued.”

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

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “There’s something sexy in cooking for a man who likes my food. Am I growing up?”

4. “There’s something sexy in cooking for a man who likes my food. Am I growing up?”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “We aren’t the masters of the earth. We’re the servants.”

5. “We aren’t the masters of the earth. We’re the servants.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “Sometimes, it’s not getting what we want that offers us the most important Lessons.”

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

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “Lots of times growing up, I’d just try to do something myself because I believed that being a boy, and being Indian, I should just know how to do things.” -Will Bird, Through Black Spruce.”

7. “Lots of times growing up, I’d just try to do something myself because I believed that being a boy, and being Indian, I should just know how to do things.” -Will Bird, Through Black Spruce.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “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.”

8. “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.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “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.”

9. “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.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “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.”

10. “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.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “When I die, nieces, I want to be cremated, my ashes taken up in a bush plane and sprinkled onto the people in town below. Let them think my body is snowflakes, sticking in their hair and on their shoulders like dandruff.”

11. “When I die, nieces, I want to be cremated, my ashes taken up in a bush plane and sprinkled onto the people in town below. Let them think my body is snowflakes, sticking in their hair and on their shoulders like dandruff.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “There were incredibly complex societies already existing in North America long before Europeans arrived. So many people think that before European contact it was just Natives huddling around a fire, waiting for civilization to come save them. But that was not the case.”

12. “There were incredibly complex societies already existing in North America long before Europeans arrived. So many people think that before European contact it was just Natives huddling around a fire, waiting for civilization to come save them. But that was not the case.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “The history needs to serve the story, not the story the history. But at the same time you can’t stray too far.”

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

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “I’m intrigued by the classic Greek tragedies, as well as by the idea of the Greek chorus.”

14. “I’m intrigued by the classic Greek tragedies, as well as by the idea of the Greek chorus.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “You are a hookimaw. Happiness is not yours to have.”

15. “You are a hookimaw. Happiness is not yours to have.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “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.”

16. “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.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “Fascinating, often hilarious, always devastatingly truthful, The Inconvenient Indian is destined to become a classic of historical narrative. For those who wish to better understand Native peoples, it is a must read. For those who don’t wish to understand, it is even more so.”

17. “Fascinating, often hilarious, always devastatingly truthful, The Inconvenient Indian is destined to become a classic of historical narrative. For those who wish to better understand Native peoples, it is a must read. For those who don’t wish to understand, it is even more so.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “We are the people birthed from this land. For the first time I can seem something I’ve not fully understood before, not until now as these pale creatures from somewhere far away stare down at us in wonder, trying to makes sense of what they see. We are this place. This place is us.”

18. “We are the people birthed from this land. For the first time I can seem something I’ve not fully understood before, not until now as these pale creatures from somewhere far away stare down at us in wonder, trying to makes sense of what they see. We are this place. This place is us.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “The beliefs of Native people are no less powerful or important just because they focus on a different “form of magic.””

19. “The beliefs of Native people are no less powerful or important just because they focus on a different “form of magic.””

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “Compared to Americans, Canadians are often more gentle in their approach to things. They’re much more apologetic. There’s less room for conflict.”

20. “Compared to Americans, Canadians are often more gentle in their approach to things. They’re much more apologetic. There’s less room for conflict.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “America seems to celebrate its more violent past, but Canada doesn’t like to recognize those things. The willingness to accept the existence of violence separates our two countries.”

21. “America seems to celebrate its more violent past, but Canada doesn’t like to recognize those things. The willingness to accept the existence of violence separates our two countries.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “We all fight our own wars, wars for which we’ll be judged. Some of them we fight in the forests close to home, others in distant jungles or faraway burning deserts. We all fight our own wars, so maybe it’s best not to judge, considering it’s rare we even know why we fight so savagely.”

22. “We all fight our own wars, wars for which we’ll be judged. Some of them we fight in the forests close to home, others in distant jungles or faraway burning deserts. We all fight our own wars, so maybe it’s best not to judge, considering it’s rare we even know why we fight so savagely.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “People will say that Canada, unlike America, was not birthed from violence. But I want to say, “What are you talking about?” It’s just not true.”

23. “People will say that Canada, unlike America, was not birthed from violence. But I want to say, “What are you talking about?” It’s just not true.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “From a craft standpoint, telling a story in the first-person present tense over the course of 500 pages is a daunting challenge.”

24. “From a craft standpoint, telling a story in the first-person present tense over the course of 500 pages is a daunting challenge.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “As a fiction writer, of course, you need to take some leeway with certain aspects of history to make the story work.”

25. “As a fiction writer, of course, you need to take some leeway with certain aspects of history to make the story work.”

— Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden Quote: “I thought of my mother late that night, after leaving Dorothy, as I followed the moon’s path back home across the Moose River. My mother, maybe she was in that moon’s light. I didn’t know any more, but when I was younger, Iuse to imagine that she was. I’d talk to the moon some nights, and I knew my mother listened. I haven’t done that in a long time, me.” -Through Black Spruce, Joseph Boyden, ch 13, pg 119.”

26. “I thought of my mother late that night, after leaving Dorothy, as I followed the moon’s path back home across the Moose River. My mother, maybe she was in that moon’s light. I didn’t know any more, but when I was younger, Iuse to imagine that she was. I’d talk to the moon some nights, and I knew my mother listened. I haven’t done that in a long time, me.” -Through Black Spruce, Joseph Boyden, ch 13, pg 119.”

— Joseph Boyden

Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Positive Quotes

Positive Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes

INSPIRATIONAL SUCCESS MOTIVATIONAL

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS INSPIRATIONAL

Positive Quotes

Positive Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS INSPIRATIONAL

Steve Jobs Quotes

Steve Jobs Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS APPLE

Inspirational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

COURAGE MOTIVATIONAL STRENGTH

INSPIRATIONAL SUCCESS MOTIVATIONAL

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

LIFE SPIRITUALITY

Save image...
Permalink
Open in new tab
Copy quote text

Beautiful Wallpapers and Images

We hope you enjoyed our collection of 25 Joseph Boyden Quotes.

All the images on this page were created with QuoteFancy Studio.

Use QuoteFancy Studio to create high-quality images for your desktop backgrounds, blog posts, presentations, social media, videos, posters, and more.

Thank you!

Please check your email.