Native America Quotes:

We are going by you without fighting if you will let us, but we are going by you anyhow!

- Chief Joseph

topic: Native American, Fighting, Native, Indian, American Indian

I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place.

- Sitting Bull

topic: Native American, Men, White, Indian, Lakota

The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours...

- Black Elk

source: Black Elk (2000). “Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux”, Bison Books

topic: Stars, Native American, Wind, Indian Wisdom, Cherokee

So long as mists envelop you, be still. Be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists - as it surely will. Then act with courage.

- Chief White Eagle

topic: Native American, Long, Pieces, Indian Wisdom, Elders

Each man is good in the sight of the Great Spirit. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows. Now we are poor but we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die, we die defending our rights.

- Sitting Bull

topic: Native American, Men, Sight, Indian, Lakota

We believe profoundly in silence-the sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit.

- Charles Alexander Eastman

topic: Believe, Perfect, Silence, Indian Wisdom, Spiritual Indian

We live, we die, and like the grass and trees, renew ourselves from the soft earth of the grave. Stones crumble and decay, faiths grow old and they are forgotten, but new beliefs are born. The faith of the villages is dust now... but it will grow again... like the trees.

- Chief Joseph

topic: Native American, Dust, Tree, Great Native American, Great Spirit

Our land is more valuable than your money. It will last forever. It will not even perish by the flames of fire. As long as the sun shines and the waters flow, this land will be here to give life to men and animals. We cannot sell the lives of men and animals. It was put here by the Great Spirit and we cannot sell it because it does not belong to us

- Crowfoot

topic: Native American, Animal, Men, Native America

Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth and the Great Silence alone.

- Charles Alexander Eastman

source: Charles Alexander Eastman (2003). “The Soul of the Indian”, p.12, Courier Corporation

topic: Sweet, Morning, Silence, Spiritual Indian, Morning Sun

When the Earth is sick, the animals will begin to disappear, when that happens, The Warriors of the Rainbow will come to save them.

- Chief Seattle

topic: Inspirational, Life, Native American, Seattle, Great Native American

We were like deer. They were like grizzly bear.

- Chief Joseph

topic: Grizzly Bears, Deer, Bears, Grizzlies, Native America

The land is sacred. These words are at the core of your being. The land is our mother, the rivers our blood. Take our land away and we die. That is, the Indian in us dies.

- Mary Brave Bird

source: Mary Brave Bird, Richard Erdoes (2007). “Ohitika Woman”, p.220, Grove Press

topic: Inspirational, Mother, Land, Native America, Native American Earth

My young men shall never work, men who work cannot dream; and wisdom comes to us in dreams. You ask me to plow the ground. Shall I take a knife and tear my mothers breast? Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest. You ask me to dig for stone. Shall I dig under her skin for her bones? Then when I die I cannot enter her body to be born again. You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it and be rich like white men. But how dare I cut off my mother's hair.

- Smohalla

topic: Mother, Dream, Cutting, Great Native American, Native America

The idea of full dress in preparation for a battle comes not from a belief that it will add to the fighting ability. The preparation is for death, in case that should be the result of the conflict. Every Indian wants to look his best when he goes to meet the Great Spirit, so the dressing up is done whether in imminent danger is an oncoming battle or a sickness or injury at times of peace.

- Wooden Leg

source: "Wooden Leg: A Warrior Who Fought Custer".

topic: Death, Native American, Fighting, Great Native American, Native America

The Wise Man believes profoundly in silence - the sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind and spirit. The man who preserves his selfhood ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence - not a leaf, as it were, astire on the tree, not a ripple upon the surface of the shinning pool-his, in the mind of the unlettered sage, is the ideal attitude and conduct of life. Silence is the cornerstone of character.

- Charles Alexander Eastman

source: Charles Alexander Eastman, Michael Oren Fitzgerald (2007). “The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa): Light on the Indian World”, p.23, World Wisdom, Inc

topic: Wise, Attitude, Believe, Indian Wisdom, Cornerstones

If a man loses anything and goes back and looks carefully for it, he will find it.

- Sitting Bull

topic: Native American, Men, Looks, Native America, Native American Indian Inspirational

I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy.

- Black Elk

source: "Black Elk Speaks". Book by John Gneisenau Neihardt, 1932.

topic: Mother, Children, Father, Mother Earth, Flowering Trees

I was born where there were no enclosures.

- Geronimo

source: "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

topic: Born, Enclosure, Apaches, Native America, Native American Earth

Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people flourished.

- Black Elk

source: Black Elk (2000). “Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux”, Bison Books

topic: Strong, Circles, Long, Indian Wisdom, Spiritual Indian

The time will soon be here when my grandchild will long for the cry of a loon, the flash of a salmon, the whisper of spruce needles, or the screech of an eagle. But he will not make friends with any of these creatures and when his heart aches with longing, he will curse me. Have I done all to keep the air fresh? Have I cared enough about the water? Have I left the eagle to soar in freedom? Have I done everything I could to earn my grandchild's fondness?

- Chief Dan George

topic: Native American, Heart, Grandchildren, American Indian, Great Spirit

Conversation was never begun at once, nor in a hurried manner. No one was quick with a question, no matter how important, and no one was pressed for an answer. A pause giving time for thought was the truly courteous way of beginning and conducting a conversation. Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and his granting a space of silence to the speech-maker and his own moment of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness and regard for the rule that, "thought comes before speech."

- Luther Standing Bear

topic: Meaningful, Native American, Talking, Indian Wisdom, Lakota

Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus should we do, for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World.

- Black Elk

topic: Native American, Grandfather, Wish, Spiritual Indian, Native America

If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace.....Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.......Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade....where I choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself, and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.

- Chief Joseph

source: Lincoln Hall Speech in Washington D.C., January 14, 1879.

topic: Mother, Teacher, Brother, Indian, Indian Wisdom

Children must early learn the the beauty of generosity. They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving.

- Charles Alexander Eastman

topic: Life, Children, Generosity, Indian Tribes, Indian Wisdom

When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.

- Tecumseh

source: "A Sourcebook for Earth's Community of Religions". Book by Joel Diederik Beversluis, 1993.

topic: Life, Death, Wisdom, Indian Wisdom, Meaningful Death

Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.

- Tecumseh

source: "A Sourcebook for Earth's Community of Religions". Book by Joel Diederik Beversluis, 1993.

topic: Wise, Vision, Abuse, Indian, Indian Wisdom

Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself — and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty.

- Chief Joseph

source: Lincoln Hall Speech in Washington D.C., January 14, 1879.

topic: Life, Strength, Teacher, Spiritual Indian, Law Abiding Citizen

So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide

- Tecumseh

source: "A Sourcebook for Earth's Community of Religions". Book by Joel Diederik Beversluis, 1993.

topic: Song, Love You, Heart, Indian Tribes, Indian Wisdom

We know our lands have now become more valuable. The white people think we do not know their value; but we know that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone.

- Canasatego

topic: Native American, Thinking, Land, America Land, Great Native American

There is no death, only a change of worlds.

- Chief Seattle

source: Albert Furtwangler, Chief Seattle (1997). “Answering Chief Seattle”, p.25, University of Washington Press

topic: Change, Native American, Psychics, Indian Wisdom, Meaningful Death

Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power whirls. Birds make their nest in circles... The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were.

- John Neihardt

topic: Stars, Native American, Moon, Indian Wisdom, Native America

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.

- Chief Seattle

topic: Life, Lonely, Nature, Indian, Inspirational Earth

I saw more than I can tell / And I understood more than I saw.

- Black Elk

source: Black Elk (2000). “Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux”, Bison Books

topic: Native American, Circles, Shapes, Indian, Indian Wisdom

A wee child toddling in a wonder world, I prefer to their dogma my excursions into the natural gardens where the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers. If this is Paganism, then at present, at least, I am a Pagan.

- Zitkala-Sa

topic: Sweet, Children, Flower, Indian Wisdom, Spiritual Nature

Only to the white man was nature a "wilderness" and only to him was the land "infested" with "wild" animals and "savage" people. To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery. Not until the hairy man from the east came and with brutal frenzy heaped injustices upon us and the families that we loved was it "wild" for us. When the very animals of the forest began fleeing from his approach, then it was that for us the "Wild West" began.

- Luther Standing Bear

source: Luther Standing Bear (2006). “Land of the Spotted Eagle”, p.38, U of Nebraska Press

topic: Men, Animal, Blessing, Man And Nature, Lakota

Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom, an intense and absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power, and principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.

- Black Elk

topic: Honesty, Generosity, Justice, Supreme Power, Great Freedom

...the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers...

- Zitkala-Sa

source: Zitkala-Sa (2014). “American Indian Stories”, p.109, Diderot Publishing

topic: God, Sweet, Flower, Indian Wisdom, Ripple

Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.

- Chief Joseph

source: Speech in surrendering to General Nelson Appleton Miles, October 05, 1877.

topic: Tired, Heart, Fighting, Indian Culture, American Indian

Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself...

- Tecumseh

source: "A Sourcebook for Earth's Community of Religions". Book by Joel Diederik Beversluis, 1993.

topic: Lonely, Morning, Lying, Indian, Joy Of Living

The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man's heart, away from nature, becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too.

- Luther Standing Bear

source: Luther Standing Bear (1978). “Land of the Spotted Eagle”, p.197, U of Nebraska Press

topic: Wise, Heart, Men, Man And Nature, Lakota

Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view and demand that they respect yours.

- Tecumseh

source: "A Sourcebook for Earth's Community of Religions". Book by Joel Diederik Beversluis, 1993.

topic: Native American, Views, Demand, Indian Wisdom, Spiritual Indian

From where the sun now stands I will fight no more.

- Chief Joseph

topic: Fighting, Sun, Indian Culture, Native America, Native American Dream

Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.

- Tecumseh

source: "A Sourcebook for Earth's Community of Religions". Book by Joel Diederik Beversluis, 1993.

topic: Love You, Perfect, Love Your Life, Indian, Indian Tribes

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.

- Standing Bear

topic: Nature, Heart, Men, Man And Nature, Beautiful Nature

Let me be a free man - free to travel, free to stop, free to work.

- Chief Joseph

topic: Travel, Men, Let Me, Indian, Spiritual Indian

All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man... the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.

- Chief Seattle

source: Seattle (Chief) (1976). “Chief Seattle's Testimony”

topic: Native American, Men, Air, Indian Wisdom, Seattle

Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other then we shall have no more wars. We shall be all alike - brothers of one father and mother, with one sky above us and one country around us and one government for all. Then the Great Spirit Chief who rules above will smile upon this land and send rain to wash out the bloody spots made by brothers' hands upon the face of the earth. For this time the Indian race is waiting and praying. I hope no more groans of wounded men and women will ever go to the ear of the Great Spirit Chief above, and that all people may be one people.

- Chief Joseph

topic: Mother, Country, Brother, American Indian, Great Native American

All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth, befalls the children of the Earth.

- Chief Seattle

topic: Children, Earth, Climate Change, Seattle, Web Of Life