Native American Quotes

Time discovered truth. 

Seneca

"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.
 Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice."

Cherokee Expression

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

Chief Tecumseh

Man has responsibility, not power.

Native American Proverb (Tuscarora).



"One does not sell the land people walk on." ... 

Crazy Horse, Sept. 23, 1875

Why not teach school children more of the wholesome proverbs and legends of our people?  That we killed game only for food, not for fun... Tell your children of the friendly acts of the Indians to the white people who first settled here.  Tell them of our leaders and heroes and their deeds... Put in your history books the Indian's part in the World War. Tell how the Indian fought for a country of which he was not a citizen, for a flag to which he had no claim, and for a people who treated him unjustly.  We ask this, Chief, to keep sacred the memory of our people. 

     Grand Council Fire of American Indians to the Mayor of Chicago, 1927

An American Indian elder described his own inner struggles this way: "Inside of me there 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."  

Unknown

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

Mourning Dove (Christine Quintasket), Salish

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 

There is no death. Only a change of worlds. 

Chief Seattle 

"It ended...
His body changed to light,
A star that burns forever in the sky."

Aztec-American Indian

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, Oglala Sioux Chief

It is the general belief of the Indians that after a man dies his spirit is somewhere on the earth or in the sky, we do not know exactly where, but we are sure that his spirit still lives. . . . So it is with Wakantanka. We believe that he is everywhere, yet he is to us as the spirits of our friends, whose voices we can not hear. 

 Chased-by-Bears, Santee-Yanktonai Sioux

A warrior who had more than he needed would make a feast. He went around and invited the old and needy. . . The man who could thank the food—some worthy old medicine man or warrior—said, ". . . . look to the old, they are worthy of old age; they have seen their days and proven themselves. With the help of the Great Spirit, they have attained a ripe old age. At this age the old can predict or give knowledge or wisdom, whatever it is; it is so. At the end is a cane. You and your family shall get to where the cane is." 

 Black Elk, Oglala Sioux holy man