Native American Proverbs Quotes:

Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.

- Crazy Horse

topic: Children, Parent, Earth, Indian Wisdom, Spiritual Indian

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.

- Black Elk

topic: Inspirational, Together, Shapes, Indian, Indian Wisdom

The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.

- Black Elk

topic: Inspirational, Wisdom, Peace, Spirit And Soul, Elders

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

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the Sunset.

- Crowfoot

topic: Life, Running, Nature, Indian Tribes, Indian Wisdom

Grown men may learn from very little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and, therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.

- Black Elk

source: "The Sacred Pipe : Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux" recorded and edited by Joseph Epes Brown, 1953.

topic: Children, Native American, Heart, Indian Wisdom, Spiritual Indian

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

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

The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air, the fragrance of the grass, they speak to me. The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky, the rhythm of the sea, speaks to me. The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning, the dewdrop on the flower, speaks to me. The strength of the fire, the taste of the salmon, the trail of the sun, and the life that never goes away, they speak to me. And my heart soars.

- Chief Dan George

source: Chief Dan George, “My Heart Soars”

topic: Nature, Morning, Stars, Indian Wisdom, Softness

Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.

- Will Rogers

topic: Inspirational, Motivational, Moving On, Indian, Indian Wisdom

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

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

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

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, The one I feed the most.

- George Bernard Shaw

topic: Motivational, Dog, Struggle, Good Dog, Inner Struggle

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children

- Chief Seattle

topic: Motivational, Wisdom, Peace, Indian, Indian Wisdom

I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.

- Red Cloud

topic: Love, Life, Peace, Indian, Indian Wisdom

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

Listen, or your tongue will make you deaf.

- Terri Farley

topic: Tongue, Deaf, Indian Wisdom, American Indian, Native American Indian

Everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease and herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence.

- Mourning Dove

source: Mourning Dove (1994). “Mourning Dove: A Salishan Autobiography”, p.69, U of Nebraska Press

topic: Marijuana, Earth, Disease, Indian Wisdom, American Spirit

The more you give, the more good things come to you.

- Robert Muller

topic: Attitude, Giving, Good Things, Native American Proverbs

If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys.

- Chief Dan George

topic: Native American, Animal, Native, Indian Wisdom, Great Spirit

Wisdom and peace come when you start living the life the creator intended for you.

- Geronimo

topic: Live Life, Creator, Medieval War, Native American Proverbs

...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

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

Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.

- Sharon Creech

topic: Caring, Men, Moon, Walking On The Moon, Native American Proverbs

The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

- Chief Seattle

source: Chief Seattle, “This we know”

topic: Life, Travel, Men, Seattle, Web Of Life

His grandfather had often told him that he tried too hard to move trees when a wiser man would walk around them.

- Patricia Briggs

source: Patricia Briggs (2009). “Hunting Ground”, p.17, Penguin

topic: Moving, Men, Tree, Native American Proverbs

It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds.

- Black Elk

topic: Depression, Roots, Bird, Depression Inspirational, Native American Proverbs

The power of the world always works in circles.

- Black Elk

topic: Circles, World, Indian, Indian Wisdom, Spiritual Indian

We do not want riches, we want peace and love.

- Red Cloud

topic: Love, Peace, Want, Indian Wisdom, Peace Love

Looking behind, I am filled with gratitude. Looking forward, I am filled with vision. Looking upwards, I am filled with strength. Looking within, I discover peace.

- Robert Muller

topic: Gratitude, Attitude, Vision, Native American Proverbs

Help me always to speak the truth quietly, to listen with an open mind when others speak, and to remember the peace that may be found in silence.

- Robert Muller

topic: Attitude, Silence, Mind, Spiritual Indian, Elders

Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.

- Tecumseh

topic: Song, Hero, Home, Indian Tribes, Meaningful Death

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

He who would do great things should not attempt them all alone.

- Seneca the Younger

topic: Native American, American Indian, All Alone, Great Native American, Native American Indian

Old age is not as honorable as death, but most people seek it.

- David Gemmell

topic: People, Age, Honorable, Honorable Death, Proverbs Wisdom

[last words] What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.

- Crowfoot

source: "Aging in the Modern World: Selections from the Literature of Aging for Pleasure and Instruction". Book by ‎Clark Tibbitts, p. 222, 1957.

topic: Sunset, Native American, Firefly, Indian Tribes, Spiritual Indian