 |
|
|
|
| BLACK ELK, OGLALA LAKOTA, 1930 |
|
 |
|
| Love is something that you can leave behind you when you die. It's that powerful | |
| JOHN
FIRE LAME DEER, ROSEBUD LAKOTA, 1972 |
|
|
|
| It is about respect, respect for everybody. In our understanding, the Creator made everything. That's all we're told. He made everything. And since he made everything, then you must respect everything. That's simple. And so as I look upon you, I know that the Creator made you, I know that you're equal. You're equal in every way to us. And I respect you because you are a manifestation of the Creation. But, the law says that you must respect us as well. In this basic respect is peace. That's what's called community. Unfortunately, in today's time this does not occur. And so what I am talking about now is respect for our people's ways. Our land, our language, and our culture have been taken. Don't try to take our religion. We need that respect. | |
| OREN
LYONS, ONONDAGA, 1992 |
|
|
|
| The old people said, "Have patience, young man. Look around you. Understand who you are, where you are going. Understand that time is on your side and just because someone has invented a clock does not mean you have to hurry through life. Clocks are for those who are going to be trained to do the bidding of the master. Time is on your side. If you understand that you'll know how to utilize time. Therefore life is no longer a problem. Today is no longer a problem. Nothing is a problem because you understand that there is no time. | |
| RUSSELL
MEANS, LAKOTA, 1988 |
|
|
|
| The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives. | |
| ORAL
TRADITION, TETON SIOUX |
|
|
|
| I don't think that anybody anywhere can talk about the future of their people or of an organization without talking about education. Whoever controls the education of our children controls oour future, the future of the Cherokee people and of the Cherokee Nation,... We have always placed a great deal of importance on education and that has helped us as a people. We must continue to do that. | |
| WILMA
P. MANKILLER, CHEROKEE, 1987 |
|
|
|
| Training began with children who were taught to sit still and enjoy it. They were taught to use their organs of smell, to look when there was apparently nothing to see, and to listen intently when all seemingly was quiet. A child that cannot sit still is a half developed child. | |
| LUTHER
STANDING BEAR, LAKOTA, 1933 |
|
|
|
| From the time the Indian first set foot upon this continent, he centered his life in the natural world. He is deeply invested in the earth, committed to it both in his consciousness and in his instinct. To him the sense of place is paramount. Only in reference to the earth can he persist in his true identity. | |
| N.
SCOTT MOMADAY, KIOWA, 1974 |
|
|
|
| Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself - and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty. | |
| CHIEF
JOSEPH, NEZ PERCE, 1877 |
|
|
|
| We do now crown you with the sacred emblem of the antlers, the sign of your lordship. You shall now become a mentor of the people of the Five Nations. The thickness of your skin will be seven spans, for you will be proof against anger, offensive action and criticism. With endless patience you shall carry out your duty, and your firmness shall be tempered with calm deliberation. In all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast aside. You shall look and listen to the welfare of the whole people, and have always in view, not only the present but the coming generations - the unborn of the future Nation. | |
| THE
PEACE MAKER, IROQUOIS ORAL TRADITION |
|
|
|
| The elders remind us of the importance of the long view when they say, "pin peyeh obe" - look to the mountain. They use this phrase to remind us that we need to look at things as if we are looking out from the top of a mountain, seeing things in the mucher broader perspective of the generations that are yet to come. They remind us that in dealing with the landscape we must think in terms of a ten thousand, twenty thousand, or thirty thousand year relationship. | |
| DR.
GREGORY CAJETE, TEWA, 1993 |
|
|
|
| If you can develop an adequate self-image, then you are capable of directing your life, of making your own decision to turn against materialism. You have to have confidence in your own ability to be able to go it alone, to go against what the rest of the culture is doing. | |
| DR.
EUNICE BAUMANN-NELSON, PENOBSCOT, 1991 |
|
|
|
| The hearts of children are pure, and therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss. | |
| BLACK
ELK, OGLALA LAKOTA, 1949 |
|
|
|
| Search for the truth. Indian values tteach the holistic approach to the use of technology for mankind's good. | |
| AL
QOYAWAYMA, HOPI, 1984 |
|
|
|
| Hills are always more beautiful than stone buildings, you know. Living in a city is an artificial existence. Lots of people hardly ever feel real soil under their feet, see plants grow except in flower pots, or get far enough beyond the street light to catch the enchantment of a night sky studded with stars. When people live far from scenes of the Great Spirit's making, it's easy for them to forget his laws. | |
| TATANGA
MANI (WALKING BUFFALO), STONEY, 1958 |
|
|
|
| I know that our people possessed remarkable powers of concentration and abstraction, and I sometimes fancy that such nearness to nature as I have described keeps the spirit sensitive to impressions not commonly felt, and in touch with the unseen powers. | |
| OHIYESA
(DR. CHARLES A. EASTMAN), SANTEE SIOUX, 1911 |
|
|
|
| We, the religious leaders and rightful spokesmen for the Hopi Independent Nation, have been instructed by the Great Spirit to express the invitation to the President of the United States and all spiritual leaders everywhere to meet with us and discuss the welfare of mankind so that Peace, Unity, and Brotherhood will become part of all men everywhere. | |
| HOPI
TRADITIONAL VILLAGE LEADERS, HOPI, 1970 |
|
|
|
| Hear me! A single twig breaks, but the bundle of twigs is strong. | |
| TECUMSEH,
SHAWNEE, 1795 |
|
|
|
| Peace... comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the Universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. | |
| BLACK
ELK, OGLALA LAKOTA, 1947 |
|
|
|
| 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. We feel that the road to technology has led modern society to a damaged and seared earth. 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. | |
| WILLIAM
COMMANDA, MAMIWININI, CANADA, 1991 |
|
|
|
| There is one God looking down on us all. We are all children of the one God. God is listening to me. The sun, the darkness, the winds, are all listening to what we say now. | |
| GERONIMO,
APACHE, 1886 |
|
|
|
| Times change but principles don't. Times change but lands do not. Times change but our cultures and our languages remain the same. And that's what you have to keep intact. It's not what you wear-it's what's in your heart. And that makes the difference. Don't forget your home! | |
| OREN
LYONS, ONONDAGA, 1992 |
|
|
|
| What does it matter how I pray, so long as my prayers are answered? | |
| SITTING
BULL, HUNKPAPA LAKOTA, 1887 |
|
|
|
| If you have one hundred people and they live together, and if each one cares for the rest, there is One Mind. | |
| SHINING ARROWS, CROW, 1972 |
|
|
|
 |