“When I moved to Minnesota, I found there was a thriving and determined...” — Louise Erdrich Quote

“When I moved to Minnesota, I found there was a thriving and determined movement, a grassroots movement, to revitalize the Ojibwe language. And I've never come to be a competent speaker. I have to say that right now. But even learning the amount of Ojibwe that one can at my age is a life-altering experience.”

“I got well by talking. Death could not get a word in edgewise, grew discouraged, and traveled on.”

“I live on the margin of just about everything. I'm a marginal person, and I think that is where I've become comfortable. I'm marginally there in my native life. I can do as much as I can, but I'm always German, too, you know, and I'm always a mother. That's my first identity, but I'm always a writer, too.”

“The weird thing about acting is you're the most competent when you're at your best, but you have to be validated.”

“Photography is the easiest medium with which to be merely competent. Almost anybody can be competent. It's the hardest medium in which to have some sort of personal vision and to have a signature style.”

“I would rather have a competent extremist than an incompetent moderate.”