Best Native America Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

Source: Rez Ramblings: Living on the Pine Ridge as 21st Century as an "Injun"

“By the sandy water I breathe in the odor of the sea, From there the wind comes and blows over the world, By the sandy water I breathe in the odor of the sea, From there the clouds come and rain falls over the world.”

Poetry Water Nature Wind Rain Sand Native America Papago

Book:In the Trail of the Wind: American Indian Poems and Ritual Orations

Source: In the Trail of the Wind: American Indian Poems and Ritual Orations

“The scientific descriptions of ethnology that we find in books are inevitably dry and do not give the least impression of the mysterious world of the Achumawi, whose life is so inextricably mixed in with the animals, the trees, the plants. But without forming some mental picture of that life, it is, I believe, almost impossible to understand how and to what extent the Achumawi Indian finds himself in a state of direct mystical connection with the universe that surrounds him. Now that is precisely his religion, and his entire religion.” — Jaime de Angulo from "Tracks Along the Left Coast" by Andrew Schelling”

Indigenous Anthropology Linguistics Native America Turtle Island Ethnology Jaime De Angulo Achumawi Tribe

Author:Jaime de Angulo

“The scientific descriptions of ethnology that we find in books are inevitably dry and do not give the least impression of the mysterious world of the Achumawi, whose life is so inextricably mixed in with the animals, the trees, the plants. But without forming some mental picture of that life, it is, I believe, almost impossible to understand how and to what extent the Achumawi Indian finds himself in a state of direct mystical connection with the universe that surrounds him. Now that is precisely his religion, and his entire religion.” — Jaime de Angulo Appears in the introduction of "Tracks Along the Left Coast" by Andrew Schelling”

History California Indigenous Anthropology Linguistics Native America Ethnography Turtle Island Jaime De Angulo

Author:Jaime de Angulo

“As a child I understood how to give; I have forgotten this grace since I became civilized.”

Giving Children Grace Understood Forgotten Native Civilized Native American American Indian Native America Native American Indian Great Native American Native American Earth

Author:Charles Alexander Eastman

“The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers, he belongs just as the buffalo belonged.”

Source: Land of the Spotted Eagle

“The time will soon be here when my grandchild will long for the cry of a loon, the flash of a salmon, the whisper of spruce needles, or the screech of an eagle. But he will not make friends with any of these creatures and when his heart aches with longing, he will curse me. Have I done all to keep the air fresh? Have I cared enough about the water? Have I left the eagle to soar in freedom? Have I done everything I could to earn my grandchild's fondness?”

“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. 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.”

“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.”

Ifs Knows Life Inspirational Animal Native Native American Native American Wisdom Great Spirit Native America Great Native American Native American Earth Indian Wisdom Native Wisdom Native American Spiritual Native American Proverbs

Author:Chief Dan George

“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."”

“The old Indian teaching was that is is wrong to tear loose from its place on the earth anything that may be growing there. It may be cut off, but it should not be uprooted. The trees and the grass have spirits. Whatever one of such growth may be destroyed by some good Indian, his act is done in sadness and with a prayer for forgiveness because of his necessities.”

“I want my people to stay with me here. All the dead men will come to life again. Their spirits will come to their bodies again. We must wait here in the homes of our fathers and be ready to meet them in the bosom of our mother.”

“You ask me to plow the ground. Shall I take a knife and tear my mother's bosom? Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest.”

“The old Lakota was wise. He knew that a man's heart away from nature becomes hard.”

Source: Land of the Spotted Eagle

“Our land is more valuable than your money. It will last forever. It will not even perish by the flames of fire. As long as the sun shines and the waters flow, this land will be here to give life to men and animals. We cannot sell the lives of men and animals. It was put here by the Great Spirit and we cannot sell it because it does not belong to us”

“We believe profoundly in silence-the sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit.”

“One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk.”

“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.”

“I salute the light within your eyes where the whole universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you and I am at that place within me, we shall be one.”

Whole Light Eye Universe Indian Native Within You Native American Salute Native America Native American Indian Great Native American Light Within Native Country

Author:Crazy Horse

“I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole earth will become One Circle again.”

Whole Earth Generations Tree Mankind Color Sacred Seven Circles Indian Native Native American Native America Tree Of Life Native American Indian Great Native American Native Country Sick World

Author:Crazy Horse

“I was born on the prairies where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures.”

Light Born Freedom Break Sun Wind Native Native American Break Up Prairie Native America Great Native American Native American Earth Enclosure Apaches

Author:Geronimo

“The earth was created by the assistance of the sun, and it should be left as it was. The country was made without lines of demarcation, and it is no man's business to divide it.”

Men Should Made Country Earth Left Lines Sun Divides Native American Assistance American Indian Native America Native American Indian Great Native American Native American Earth Indian Wisdom Native American Dream

Author:Chief Joseph

“Upon suffering beyond suffering: the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again.”

“The old people came literally to love the soil and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of being close to a mothering power. The soil was soothing, strengthening, cleansing and healing.”

Source: Land of the Spotted Eagle

“I saw more than I can tell / And I understood more than I saw.”

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

“Our fathers gave us many laws which they had learned from their fathers. These laws were good.”

Law Father Native Native American Our Father Great Spirit Native America Native American Indian Great Native American Native American Earth Indian Wisdom

Author:Chief Joseph

“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.”

Long Stills Pieces Native Sunlight Native American Elders Mist Native American Wisdom Native America Indian Wisdom Native Wisdom American Spirit Native American Spiritual Native American Proverbs

Author:Chief White Eagle

“Treat all men alike.... give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who is born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. We only ask an even chance to live as other men live. We ask to be recognized as men. Let me be a free man...free to travel... free to stop...free to work...free to choose my own teachers...free to follow the religion of my Fathers...free to think and talk and act for myself.”

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

“Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles.”

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

“Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”

“The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.”

“It does not require many words to speak the truth.”

“All men were made by the Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers.”

“Let me be a free man - free to travel, free to stop, free to work.”

“From where the sun now stands I will fight no more.”

Fighting Sun Indian Native Native American American Indian Native American Wisdom Native America Native American Indian Great Native American Indian Culture Native American Earth Indian Wisdom Native American Indian Inspirational Native American Dream

Author:Chief Joseph

“I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.”

“If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace.”

“Adolescents are in just as much trouble in Native America as they are in the white community.”

America Community White Trouble Native Native America

Author:Robert Bly

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

“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.”

“All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man... the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.”

Source: Chief Seattle's Testimony

“There is no death, only a change of worlds.”

Source: Answering Chief Seattle

“When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.”

“Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.”

“Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.”

“When the Earth is sick, the animals will begin to disappear, when that happens, The Warriors of the Rainbow will come to save them.”

“We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit.”

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

People Age Old Age Native Native American Honorable American Indian Native American Wisdom Native America Native American Indian Indian Wisdom Native Wisdom Native American Indian Inspirational Proverbs Wisdom Native American Proverbs Honorable Death

Author:David Gemmell

“If we must die, we die defending our rights.”

Native America Quotes

Related topics

Native America Quotes