Indian Quotes

The Indian's night promises to be dark.

No bright star hovers about the horizon.

Sad-voiced winds moan in the distance.

Some grim Nemesis of our race is on the Red man's trail,

and wherever he goes he will still hear

the approaching foot steps of the fell destroyer

and prepare to meet his doom,

as does the wounded Doe that hears

the approaching foot steps of the hunter.

A few more moons, a few more winters

and not one of all the mighty hosts

that once filled this broad land

or that now roam in fragmentary bands

through these vast solitudes

will remain to weep over the Tombs of a people

once as powerful and as hopeful

as your own.

--Chief Seattle's Vision, 1887

The White man does not mind the foul air he breaths.

Like a man in pain for many years,

he is numb to the stench.

--Chief Seattle, C. 1885-86

Touch not the poisonous firewater

that makes Wise men turn to fools

and robs the spirit of it's vision.

--Tecumseh, Shawnee, C. 1800

What does it matter how I pray,

so long as my prayers are answered?

--Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota, 1887

We believed in one God, The Great Spirit.

We believed in our own kind of ten commandments.

And we behaved as though we believed in them.

--Vine Deloria, Sr.; Yankton Sioux, C. 1968

What hurts Indians most is that our costumes are considered beautiful, but it's as if the person wearing them didn't exist.

--Rigoberta Menchu, Quiche Maya, 1990

Men have visions, Women have children.

--Adeline Wanatee, Mesquakie, 1980

The hearts of little children are pure, and therefore, The Great Spirit may show them many things which older people miss.

--Black Elk, Oglala Lakota

Our ancestors were really masters at controlling the environment, simply because they only took what they needed, they did not have to take anymore. Now, in the world that we live in, everybody is taking all they can and--I hope I'm wrong--we're headed for a disastrous situation.

--Norton Rickard, Tuscarora, 1993

Indians chase visions, White men chase the dollar.

--John (Fire) Lame Deer, Rosebud Lakota, 1972

In the absence of the sacred, nothing is sacred--

everything is for sale.

--Oren Lyons, Onondasa, 1992

The White man knows how to make everything, but he does not know how to distribute it.

--Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota, 1885

I don't want to settle. I love to roam over the prairies.

There I feel free and happy, but when we settle down we grow pale and die.

--Santanta, Kiowa, 1867

Wars are fought to see who owns the land, but in the end it possesses man. Who dares say he owns it--is he not buried beneath it?

--Nino Cochise, Chiricahua Apache, 1971

It's OK to do nothing. We are compelled in western culture to have a plan, to execute, to move on some orderly schedule. That's baloney! It's OK to do nothing. Sometimes you'll infuriate your western counterpart. They'll think you don't care or that you have a secret. The reality is you do have a secret.

--Gene Keluche, Wintu, 1992

The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.

--Oral Tradition, Tenton Sioux

The Eskimo asked the local missionary priest, "If I did not know about God and Sin, would I go to Hell?" "No," said the Priest, "not if you did not know." "Than why," asked the Eskimo earnestly, "did you tell me?"

--Circumpolar People's story

Now I know the government is going to break the treaty because when it was signed it was understood that it would last as long as the grass grew, the winds blew, and the rivers ran, and men walked on two legs--and now they have sent us an Agent who has only one leg.

--Piapot (Flash In The Sky), Cree, 1895

Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking.

--Black Elk, Oglaka Lakotu, 1895

The smarter a man is the more he needs God to protect him from thinking he knows everything.

--George Webb, Pima, 1959

Agreements the Indian makes with the government are like the agreement a buffalo makes with the hunter after it has been pierced by many arrows. All it can do is lie down and give in.

--Chief Ouray, C. 1868

I have advised my people thus: when you find anything good in the White man's road, pick it up; but when you find something bad. or that turns out bad, drop it, leave it alone.

--Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota, 1887

Show respect for all men, but grovel to none.

--Tecumseh, Shawnee, C. 1800

A man should rely on his own resources; the one who so trains himself is ready for any emergency.

--Oral Tradition, Omaha

The path to glory is rough, and many gloomy hours obscure it.

--Black Hawk, Sauk, 1833

They could not capture me except under a white flag. They cannot hold me except with a chain.

--Osceola, Seminole, 1839

Fair is the clear sky, and green grass, yet more fair is peace among men.

--Wawam ceremony, Omaha

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, Nezperce, 1877

We preferred our own way of living. We were no expense to the government. All we wanted was peace and to be left alone.

--Crazy Horse, Ogala Lakota, 1877

It should not be necessary that Eagles should be Crows.

--Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota

A great many years ago the government commenced feeding us and clothing us. Do they want to keep it up until our children's children and their children's children are old men and women? No, we don't want it so. We think we have been given enough, meaning rations and clothing. We want to be free now.

--Asa Daklugie, Nednhi Apache, 1909

In our language there is no word to say inferior or superiority or equality because we are equal, it's a known fact. But life has become very complicated since the newcomers came here. And how does your spirit react to it? . . . It's painful. You have to be strong to walk through the storm. I know I'm a bridge between two worlds. All I ask is for people to wash their feet before they try to walk on me.

--Alanis Obomsawin, Abenak, 1982

The elders say, "The longest road you're going to have to walk is from here to here. From your head to your heart." But they also say you can't speak to the people as a leader unless you've made the return journey. From the heart back to the head.

--Phil Lane, Jr.; Yankton Sioux, 1992

I live in fear! There is no man I hate, no matter who he is, or what he is. But I live in fear of the White man. I fear the death he possesses. I fear the violence that is in him. And I would not be surprised if one day the White man killed himself, and all of us. I live in terrible fear of that.

The White man hates himself. And he hates The Great Spirit. I think of that sometimes. Why else would the White man do the things he does? The things he has done to the Indians? To everyone? I do not believe that the White man feels guilty, as they say; he is too full of hate.

--Vine Deloria, Sr.; Yankton Sioux, C. 1968

Once I moved about like the wind. Now I surrender to you and that is all.

_-Geronimo to General George Crook, 1886

The only good Indians I ever saw were dead.

_-General Philip Henry Sheridan, 1869

Have you killed anyone?

How many have you murdered?

Have you eaten the flesh of man?

Have you eaten peyote?

_-From a small religious manual written in 1760 by Father Batholomé García