Lakota Quotes

• The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man's heart, away from nature, becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too.

  Luther Standing Bear

  Wise, Native American, Heart

  Luther Standing Bear (1978). “Land of the Spotted Eagle”, p.197, U of Nebraska Press

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• 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

  Love, Life, Peace

  180 Copy quote

• 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."

  Luther Standing Bear

  Meaningful, Native American, Space

  90 Copy quote

• We must relearn how to cry. A strong man cries; it is the weak man who holds back his tears.

  Archie Fire Lame Deer

  Inspirational, Strength, Strong

  69 Copy quote

• Kinship with all creatures of the earth, sky and water was a real and active principle. In the animal and bird world there existed a brotherly feeling that kept the Lakota safe among them. And so close did some of the Lakotas come to their feathered and furred friends that in true brotherhood they spoke a common tongue.

  Luther Standing Bear

  Real, Animal, Sky

  Luther Standing Bear (2006). “Land of the Spotted Eagle”, p.193, U of Nebraska Press

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

  Luther Standing Bear

  Wise, Native American, Heart

  Luther Standing Bear (1978). “Land of the Spotted Eagle”, p.197, U of Nebraska Press

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• Weakness and strength are necessary for balance. No one or nothing is only weak or only strong. But some of us overlook our weaknesses, and even deny that we have them. That can be dangerous, because denying there is a weakness is in itself a weakness. Likewise, accepting that we have weaknesses becomes a strength. And by the same token, overestimating strength is a weakness. You should not be blinded by your strengths. The feeling of strength is not the same as having strength. Neither should you ignore your weaknesses. Know them well, too.

  Joseph M. Marshall III

  Strength, Being Strong, Native American

  28 Copy quote

• For the Lakota there was no wilderness. Nature was not dangerous but hospitable, not forbidding but friendly.

  Luther Standing Bear

  Native American, Friendly, Wilderness

  Luther Standing Bear (1978). “Land of the Spotted Eagle”, p.196, U of Nebraska Press

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• Knowledge was inherent in all things. The world was a library.

  Luther Standing Bear

  Knowledge, Library, World

  Luther Standing Bear (2006). “Land of the Spotted Eagle”, p.194, U of Nebraska Press

  72 Copy quote

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• The power of the world always works in circles.

  Black Elk

  Native American, Circles, World

  Black Elk (2000). “Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux”, Bison Books

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• Silence is the Mother of Truth, for the silent man was ever to be trusted, while the man ever ready with speech was never taken seriously.

  Luther Standing Bear

  Inspirational, Mother, Taken

  Luther Standing Bear (2006). “Land of the Spotted Eagle”, p.150, U of Nebraska Press

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• We do not want riches, we want peace and love.

  Red Cloud

  Love, Peace, Native American

  60 Copy quote

• Only to the white man was nature a "wilderness" and only to him was the land "infested" with "wild" animals and "savage" people. To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery. Not until the hairy man from the east came and with brutal frenzy heaped injustices upon us and the families that we loved was it "wild" for us. When the very animals of the forest began fleeing from his approach, then it was that for us the "Wild West" began.

  Luther Standing Bear

  Men, Animal, Blessing

  114 Copy quote

• We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, and winding streams with tangled growth as wild. Earth was beautiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery.

  Luther Standing Bear

  Beautiful, Native American, Blessing

  Luther Standing Bear (2006). “My People the Sioux”, p.17, U of Nebraska Press

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• When the Lakota leader Sitting Bull was asked by a white reporter why his people loved and respected him, Sitting Bull replied by asking if it was not true that among white people a man is respected because he has many horses, many houses? When the reporter replied that was indeed true, Sitting Bull then said that his people respected him because he kept nothing for himself.

  Joseph Bruchac

  Horse, Men, White

  7 Copy quote

• I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place.

  Sitting Bull

  Native American, Men, White Man

  "God Is Red: A Native View of Religion". Book by Vine Deloria, Jr., 1972.

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• Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.

  Standing Bear

  Inspirational, Life, Nature

  69 Copy quote

• When we become hollow bones there is no limit to what the Higher Powers can do in and through us in spiritual things.

  Frank Fools Crow

  Spiritual, Native American, Power

  108 Copy quote

• 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.

  Luther Standing Bear

  Healing, Native American, People

  Luther Standing Bear (2006). “Land of the Spotted Eagle”, p.192, U of Nebraska Press

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• This war did not spring up on our land, this war was brought upon us by the children of the Great Father who came to take our land without a price, and who, in our land, do a great many evil things... This war has come from robbery - from the stealing of our land.

  Spotted Tail

  Children, Father, Spring

  79 Copy quote

• If we must die, we die defending our rights.

  Sitting Bull

  Native American, Rights, India

  239 Copy quote

• What does kiciciyapi mitawa mean?" He kept his head on her breasts. "What?" "You called me kicicyapi mitawa. It sounded so beautiful. It wasn't Japanese. What was it?" "It's the voice of the Lakota. It would sound silly in English." He cupped her breast, his fingers moving lightly over her skin. His breath warm on her heart. "I want to know. It didn't sound silly when you said it. It sounded...beautiful. It made me feel beautiful. And loved." He kissed her breast. "I called you my heart. And you are.

  Christine Feehan

  Beautiful, Silly, Moving

  4 Copy quote

• "Civilization" has been thrust upon me since the days of the reservations, and it has not added one whit to my sense of justice, to my reverence for the rights of life, to my love for truth, honesty, and generosity, or to my faith in Wakan Tanka, God of the Lakotas.

  Luther Standing Bear

  Honesty, Rights, Civilization

  Luther Standing Bear (2006). “Land of the Spotted Eagle”, p.258, U of Nebraska Press

  67 Copy quote

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• Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

  Don Marquis

  Bible, Jesus, Humble

  95 Copy quote

• Only to the white man was nature a 'wilderness'.

  Luther Standing Bear

  Native American, Men, White Man

  Luther Standing Bear (2006). “Land of the Spotted Eagle”, p.38, U of Nebraska Press

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