QUOTES FROM NATIVE AMERICANS

A. ‘Grown men can learn from very little children, for the hearts of the little children are pure. Therefore, the Great Spirit may show them many things which older people miss.’

– Black Elk, Oglala Lakota Sioux (1863-1950)

B. ‘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.’

C. ‘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.’

– Red Cloud, Oglala Lakota Sioux (1822-1909)

D. ‘You have to look deeper, way below the anger, the hate, the jealousy and the self-pity, way down deeper where the dreams lie, Son. Find your dream. It’s the pursuit of the dream that heals you.’

– Billy Mills (Father), Oglala Lakota (1938-)

E. ‘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, Duwamish (1780-1866)

F. ‘Once I was in Victoria, and I saw a very large house. They told me it was a bank and that white men place their money there to be taken care of and that in time they got it back with interest. We are Indians, and we have no such bank, but when we have plenty of money or blankets, we give them away to other chiefs and people, and in time they return them with interest, and our hearts feel good. Our way of giving is our bank.’

– Chief Maquinna, Mowachaht (died circa 1795)