Native Quote #55

"The role of food is important, but it's gotten to the point where we become gluttons...We could spend a lot more time really thinking about what's going on in our world and giving more thanks."  

Chief Flying Eagle, Mashpee Wampanoa

Native Quote #54

"May the stars carry your sadness away,
May the flowers fill your heart with beauty,
May hope forever wipe away your tears,
And, above all, may silence make you strong."

Geswanouth Slahoot (Chief Dan George), Tsleil-Waututh Nation 

Native Quote #53

"The rascality was that they came to take the land so cheap; 

that is what I call rascality."

  

Wakinyan Ska, (White Thunder), Wazhazha Lakota

Native Quote #52

"Potawatomi people lived off the land for over 9,000 years, but you'd need someone with a doctorate in Anthropology to find traces of them. If you did the same...today, our traces would be obvious for millions of years." 

 

 Johnny Flynn, Potawatomi

Native Quote #51

"Hold on to what is good,
Even if it's a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe,
Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do,
Even if it's a long way from here.
Hold on to your life,
Even if it's easier to let go.
Hold on to my hand,
Even if someday I'll be gone away from you."

 Pueblo prayer

Native Quote #50

"I am tired of fighting...from where the sun now stands,  I will fight no more." 

  Hinmatóowyalahtq'it (Chief Joseph) Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa; Nez Pearce)

Native Quote #49

"The Great Spirit is in all things, he is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us, that which we put into the ground she returns to us..."

 Big Thunder (Bedagi), Wabanaki Algonquin

Native Quote #48

"In early days we were close to nature. We judged time, weather conditions, and many things by the elements--the good earth, the blue sky, the flying of geese, and the changing winds. We looked to these for guidance and answers. Our prayers and thanksgiving were said to the four winds--to the East, from whence the new day was born; to the South, which sent the warm breeze which gave a feeling of comfort; to the West, which ended the day and brought rest; and to the North, the Mother of winter whose sharp air awakened a time of preparation for the long days ahead. We lived by God's hand through nature and evaluated the changing winds to tell us or warn us of what was ahead. 

Today we are again evaluating the changing winds. May we be strong in spirit and equal to our Fathers of another day in reading the signs accurately and interpreting them wisely. May Wah-Kon-Tah, the Great Spirit, look down upon us, guide us, inspire us, and give us courage and wisdom. Above all, may He look down upon us and be pleased."

Unknown Speaker, National Congress of American Indians (1960's)

Native Quote #47

"They're taking your jobs, folks! It's an atrocity!

Holy sh*t! Get them e-legals out of here. They cain't talk right, no how. USA, USA, USA!!! 

 What? I'm not gonna do *that* job."

Dirty Mike D, Dirty South

Native Quote #46

"I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy - myself. Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes. So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame."

Chief Yellow Lark, Lakota

Native Quote #45

"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."

Ohiyesa (Charles Eastman), 

Wahpeton Eastern Dakota (Santee Sioux)

Native Quote #44

"We played games—games that brought good health and sound bodies. Why not put these in your schools? We told stories. Why not teach schoolchildren more of the wholesome proverbs and legends of our people? Tell them how we loved all that was beautiful. That we killed game only for food, not for fun. Indians think white men who kill for fun are murderers.  

 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

Native Quote #43

"You have noticed that 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... 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, for theirs is the same religion as ours...

 Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves."

Heȟáka Sápa (Black Elk) , Wičháša Wakȟáŋ, Oglala Lakota