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Black Elk

Black Elk Quotes

Medicine man

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Famous Black Elk Quotes

“The power of the world always works in circles.”

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Book:Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
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“I cured with the power that came through me. Of course, it was not I who cured,it was the power from the Outer World; the visions and ceremonies only made me like a whole through which the power could come to the two-leggeds. If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no power could come through. Then everything I could do would be foolish.”

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Author:Black Elk
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“Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.”

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Book:Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
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“Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of things. That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that world.... It was this vision that gave him his great power, for when he went into a fight, he had only to think of that world to be in it again, so that he could go through anything and not be hurt”

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Book:Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
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“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.”

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Author:Black Elk
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“And I say the sacred hoop of my people was one of the many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father.”

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Book:Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
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“My friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life, as you wish; and if it were only the story of my life I think I would not tell it; for what is one man that he should make much of his winters, even when they bend him like a heavy snow?”

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Book:Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
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“The soldiers did go away and their towns were torn down; and in the Moon of Falling Leaves (November), they made a treaty with Red Cloud that said our country would be ours as long as grass should grow and water flow.”

ShouldLongMadeSaidCountryWould BeFallGrowsWaterMoonRedFlowTownsDown AndSoldierCloudsOur CountryGrassGoing AwayTornNovemberTreatiesFalling Leaves
Book:Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
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“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.”

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Book:Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
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“Also, as I lay there thinking of my vision, I could see it all again and feel the meaning with a part of me like a strange power glowing in my body; but when the part of me that talks would try to make words for the meaning, it would be like fog and get away from me.”

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Book:Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
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“You remember that my great vision came to me when I was only nine years old, and you have seen that I was not much good for anything until after I had performed the horse dance near the mouth of the Tongue River during my eighteenth summer.”

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Book:Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
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