Native Quotes

• If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans.

  Stephen Hawking

  Native American, Native Country, Discovery

  "Stephen Hawking warns over making contact with aliens". news.bbc.co.uk. April 25, 2010.

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• Where no one intrudes, many can live in harmony.

  Chief Dan George

  Native American, Harmony, American Indian

  149 Copy quote
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  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 talk, think and act for myself — and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty.

  Chief Joseph

  Life, Strength, Teacher

  Lincoln Hall Speech in Washington D.C., January 14, 1879.

  204 Copy quote

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• Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus should we do, for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World.

  Black Elk

  Native American, Grandfather, Wish

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

  21 Copy quote

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• 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.

  Chief White Eagle

  Native American, Long, Pieces

  18 Copy quote

• We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children

  Chief Seattle

  Motivational, Wisdom, Peace

  293 Copy quote

• Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.

  Tecumseh

  Love You, Native American, Perfect

  "A Sourcebook for Earth's Community of Religions". Book by Joel Diederik Beversluis, 1993.

  71 Copy quote

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

  Red Cloud

  Love, Peace, Native American

  60 Copy quote

• Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle.

  Black Elk

  Native American, Circles, Doe

  "The Sacred Pipe : Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux" recorded and edited by Joseph Epes Brown, (Ch. 17), 1961.

  26 Copy quote

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• The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air, the fragrance of the grass, they speak to me. The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky, the rhythm of the sea, speaks to me. The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning, the dewdrop on the flower, speaks to me. The strength of the fire, the taste of the salmon, the trail of the sun, and the life that never goes away, they speak to me. And my heart soars.

  Chief Dan George

  Morning, Nature, Stars

  Chief Dan George, “My Heart Soars”

  536 Copy quote

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• Help me always to speak the truth quietly, to listen with an open mind when others speak, and to remember the peace that may be found in silence.

  Robert Muller

  Attitude, Native American, Silence

  19 Copy quote

• 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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• 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.

  Crazy Horse

  Children, Native American, Parent

  501 Copy quote
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  The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

  Chief Seattle

  Life, Travel, Men

  Chief Seattle, “This we know”

  242 Copy quote

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• 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.

  Chief Joseph

  Tired, Native American, Heart

  Speech in surrendering to General Nelson Appleton Miles, October 05, 1877.

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

  Chief Joseph

  Native American, Fighting, Sun

  Quoted in Herbert J. Spinden, The Nez Perce Indians (1908)

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• I have never had to face anything that could overwhelm the native optimism and stubborn perseverance I was blessed with.

  Sonia Sotomayor

  Perseverance, Blessed, Optimism

  Sonia Sotomayor (2013). “My Beloved World”, p.11, Vintage

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• The most common trait of all primitive peoples is a reverence for the life-giving earth, and the Native American shared this elemental ethic: The land was alive to his loving touch, and he, its son, was brother to all creatures.

  Stewart Udall

  Brother, Native American, Son

  Stewart L. Udall (1988). “The quiet crisis and the next generation”, Gibbs Smith

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

  Chief Seattle

  Inspirational, Life, Native American

  65 Copy quote

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

  David Gemmell

  Native American, People, Age

  57 Copy quote

• Children must early learn the the beauty of generosity. They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving.

  Charles Alexander Eastman

  Life, Children, Native American

  64 Copy quote

• All men were made brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be content when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases.

  Chief Joseph

  Mother, Running, Brother

  Lincoln Hall Speech in Washington D.C., January 14, 1879.

  131 Copy quote

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• We are going by you without fighting if you will let us, but we are going by you anyhow!

  Chief Joseph

  Native American, Fighting, American Indian

  33 Copy quote

• 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?

  Chief Dan George

  Native American, Heart, Grandchildren

  496 Copy quote

• 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.

  Black Elk

  Mother, Children, Father

  "Black Elk Speaks". Book by John Gneisenau Neihardt, 1932.

  192 Copy quote

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