Native Quote #58

“Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian.”

Robert Orden

Native Quote #57

"Among the Indians there have been no written laws. Customs handed down from generation to generation have been the only laws to guide them. Every one might act different from what was considered right did he choose to do so, but such acts would bring upon him the censure of the Nation... This fear of the Nation's censure acted as a mighty band, binding all in one social, honorable compact."

 Kah-ge-ga-bowh (George Copway) Ojibwa Chief

 

Native Quote #56

"The Great Spirit gave us plenty of land to live on, and buffalo, deer, antelope and other game. But you have come here; you are taking my land from me; you are killing off our game, so it is hard for us to live ... and again you say, why do you not become civilized? We do not want your civilization! We would live as our fathers did, and their fathers before them."

 Tȟašúŋke Witkó  (Crazy Horse), Oglala Lakota

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

Native Quote #42

"Sometimes I go about pitying myself
And all the while I am being carried across the sky
By beautiful clouds."

 Ojibway (Ojibwa, Chippewa) Poem

Native Quote #41

"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.

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

Chief Tecumseh (Tecumtha or Tekamthi), Shawnee

Native Quote #40

"When you know who you are;
when your mission is clear and you
burn with the inner fire of unbreakable will;
no cold can touch your heart;
no deluge can dampen your purpose.
You know that you are alive."

 

 

Si'ahl (Chief Seattle), Dkhw’Duw’Absh (Duwamish)

Native Quote #39

"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."

 

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

Native Quote #38

"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."

 

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

Native Quote #37

"When you are in doubt, be still, and wait;
when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage. 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, Ponca

Native Quote #36

"Oh Great Spirit,
Whose voice I hear in the winds,
And whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me!"

 

Chief Yellow Lark

Native Quote #35

"May the Forest be with you."

 Rif-Raf, Rainbow Family of Living Light (Southern District)

Native Quote #34

"The white man says, there is freedom and justice for all. We have had 'freedom and justice,' and that is why we have been almost exterminated. We shall not forget this."

  

1927 Grand Council of American Indians

Native Quote #33

"One thing to remember is to talk to the animals. If you do, they will talk back to you. But if you don't talk to the animals, they won't talk back to you, then you won't understand, and when you don't understand you will fear and when you fear you will destroy the animals, and if you destroy the animals, 

you will destroy yourself."

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

Native Quote #32

 "There is no death. Only a change of worlds.”

 

 

Si'ahl (Chief Seattle), Dkhw’Duw’Absh (Duwamish)

Native Quote #31

"May the Warm Winds of Heaven blow softly upon your house. May the Great Spirit bless all who enter there. 

May your Moccasins make happy tracks in many snows,and May the Rainbow Always touch your shoulder."

 

Cherokee Prayer Blessing

Native Quote #30

"Knowledge is a beautiful thing, but the using of knowledge in a good way is what makes for wisdom.  Learning how to use knowledge in a sacred manner, that's wisdom to me.  

And to me, that's what a true Elder is."  

 Sun Bear, Chippewa

Native Quote #29

"Traditional people of Indian nations have interpreted the two roads that face the light-skinned race as the road to technology and the road to spirituality...Could it be that the road to technology represents a rush to destruction, and that the road to spirituality represents the slower path that the traditional native people have traveled and are now seeking again? The earth is not scorched on this trail. The grass is still growing there."

 

Ojigkwanong (William Commanda),Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg (Algonquin)

Native Quote #28

"From Wakan-Tanka, the Great Mystery, comes all power. It is from Wakan-Tanka that the holy man has wisdom and the power to heal and make holy charms. Man knows that all healing plants are given by Wakan-Tanka, therefore they are holy. So too is the buffalo holy, because it is the gift of Wakan-Tanka."

Maza Blaska (Flat-Iron) Oglala Sioux Chief

Native Quote #27

"In the beginning of all things, wisdom and knowledge were with the animals, for Tirawa, the One Above, did not speak directly to man. He sent certain animals to tell men that he showed himself through the beast, and that from them, and from the stars and the sun and moon should man learn.. all things tell of Tirawa."

 

 

Letakos-Lesa (Eagle Chief), Pawnee

 

Native Quote #26

"Follow your own footsteps.
Learn from the rivers,
the trees and the rocks.
Honor the Christ, the Buddha,
your brothers and sisters.

Honor your Earth Mother and the Great Spirit.
Honor yourself and all of creation. 
Look with the eyes of your soul and engage the essential."

Q'ero Inca

Native Quote #25

"How smooth must be the language of the whites, when they can make right look like wrong, and wrong like right."

Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak (Black Hawk), Sauk and Fox

Native Quote #24

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

 Sahpo Muxika (Crowfoot), Blackfoot

 

Native Quote #23

Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men,
we didn't have any kind of prison. 
Because of this, we had no delinquents. 

Without a prison, there can be no delinquents.
We had no locks nor keys and therefore among us there were 

no thieves.

When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket,
he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift.
We were too uncivilized to give great importance to 

private property.

We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth.
We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians,
therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another.
 
We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and 

I don't know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things
that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.

Tȟáȟča Hušté (John Fire Lame Deer), Mineconju-Lakota

Native Quote #22

"The devastated earth, the air, water, the extinct species of mankind, animalkind, and plantkind, the drugs, suicides, family separations - 

these are all the result of false ceremonies."   

Barney Bush, SHAWNEE

Native Quote #21

"We do not want schools...they will teach us to have churches.
We do not want churches...they will teach us to quarrel about God.
We do not want to learn that.
We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on this earth,
but we never quarrel about God.
We do not want to learn that."

Heinmot Tooyalaket (Chief Joseph), Nez Perce

Native Quote #20

O' GREAT SPIRIT, 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. 

Cherokee Prayer

Native Quote #19

Honor the sacred.
Honor the Earth, our Mother.
Honor the Elders.
Honor all with whom we share the Earth:-
Four-leggeds, two-leggeds, winged ones,
Swimmers, crawlers, plant and rock people.
Walk in balance and beauty.

 

 
Anonymous Native Elder

Native Quote #18

“The Great Spirit is not perfect: it has a good side and a bad side. Sometimes the bad side gives us more knowledge than the good side.”

Lakota

Native Quote #17

“Everyone lightens. Each one of us is moving and vibrating as we become one as the light beings we are. All of us have been called. All of us feel the change and know the urgency of becoming One.”  

Flordemayo, Mayan

Native Quote #16

"Will you ever begin to understand the meaning of the soil beneath your very feet? From a grain of sand to a great mountain, all is sacred. Yesterday and tomorrow exist eternally upon this continent. We natives are the guardians of this sacred place."

 Aroniawenrate (Peter Blue Cloud), Turtle Clan, Mohawk

Native Quote #15

"When all the trees have been cut down,
when all the animals have been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted,
when all the air is unsafe to breathe,
only then will you discover you cannot eat money."

Cree Prophecy

Native Quote #14

"Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind and spirit. The man who preserves his selfhood is ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence ... What are the fruits of silence? They are self-control, true courage or endurance, patience, dignity and reverence. Silence is the cornerstone of character."

 Ohiyesa, Wahpeton Santee Sioux

Native Quote #13

"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."

         

 

Maȟpíya Lúta (Red Cloud), Oglala Lakota

Native Quote #12

An elder said:

"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."

Native Quote #11

"Look as they rise, up rise
Over the line where sky meets the earth;
Pleiades !
Lo ! They are ascending, come to guide us,
Leading us safely, keeping us one;
Pleiades !
Teach us to be, like you, united."

 Pawnee

Native Quote #10

"We never had a thought of exchanging our land for any other... fearing the consequences may be similar to transplanting an old tree, which would wither and die away."

 Itte-wamba Minco (Levi Colbert) Chickasaw

Native Quote #9

"These stories were the libraries of our people. In each story, there was recorded some event of interest or importance...A people enrich their minds who keep their history on the leaves of memory."

 Ota Kte (Plenty Kill) or Mochunozhin, 

Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Lakota