Quotes from the last Indian chiefs

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

These sayings belong to Sitting Bull, White Cloud, Sitl, and other famous 19th century North American Indian leaders.

“Love the earth. It is not inherited by you from your parents, it is borrowed by you from your children.”

“In the first year of marriage, the newlyweds looked at each other and wondered if they could be happy. If not, they said goodbye and looked for new spouses. If they were forced to live together in disagreement, we would be as stupid as a white man."

“Strive for wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is the past. Wisdom is the future.”

"We don't want churches because they will teach us to argue about God."

“One 'take' is better than two 'I'll give'”.

“It doesn't take many words to tell the truth.”

"A good man sees good signs."

"The one who is silent knows twice as much as the chatterbox."

"Look first at the footprints of your moccasins before judging other people's faults."

“Before you love, learn to walk in the snow without leaving a trace.”

“There is no death. There is only a transition between worlds”.

"Those who go to bed with dogs get up with fleas."

"How clever white language must be if they can make right look like wrong and wrong look right."

“My son will never take up farming. Those who work on the earth do not dream, and wisdom comes to us in dreams.”

What is life? This is the light of a firefly in the night. This is the breath of a bison when winter comes. It is a shadow that lies on the grass and melts at sunset.”

"When the last tree is cut down, when the last river is poisoned, when the last bird is caught, - only then will you understand that money cannot be eaten."

“The Great Spirit is imperfect. He has a light side and a dark side. Sometimes the dark side gives us more knowledge than the light side.”

“Knowledge is hidden in every thing. The world was once a library.”

"It takes silent days to hear yourself."

"In order to understand about yourself, talk to a stone in the mountains …".

“If you noticed that you are riding a dead horse - get off!”.

"When the Great Spirit gives a new day, he sends it - to everything."

Look at me. I am poor and naked. But I am the leader of my people. We don't need wealth. We just want to teach our children to be right. We want peace and love.”

"When you tie a horse to a pole, do you expect it to exercise strength?"

"Don't bother people about their religion."

"Even your silence can be part of the prayer."

"Why do you take by force what you cannot take with love?"

"There are many ways to smell like a skunk."

"Tell me - and I will forget, show me - and I will not be able to remember, involve me in participation - and I will understand."

“You just have to die”.

“The old days were wonderful. The old men sat in the sun at their doorstep and played with the children until the sun plunged them into slumber. The old people played with the children every day. And at some point they just didn't wake up.”

"When a legend dies and a dream disappears, there is no greatness in the world."

“Don't go behind me - I may not lead you. Don't go ahead of me - maybe I won't follow you. Walk side by side and we will be one."

"Truth is what people believe in."

"Even a small mouse has the right to be furious."

“I suffer when I remember how many good words were said and how many promises were broken. In this world, those who have no right to speak at all speak too much."

"He who tells stories rules the world."

"Water has no hair."

"The frog does not drink the pond in which it lives."

“The wind that gave our grandfathers their first breath also receives their last breath, and the wind should also give our children the spirit of life.”

“O Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds, I come to you as one of your many children.

I need your strength and wisdom.

Make me strong, not to rise above my brother, but to defeat my greatest enemy - yourself.”

“I was at the end of the earth. I was at the edge of the waters. I was at the edge of the sky. I was at the edge of the mountains.

I have not found anyone who is not my friend."

"If you have something to say, get up to be seen."

"The raven screams not because it portends trouble, but because there are enemies in the bushes."

"Remember that man is also an animal, only smart."

"Do not judge a man until two moons have passed in his moccasins."

"Man must make his own arrows."

"The white man has too many bosses."

"Everything in the world has its own song."

“Above me - beauty, below me - beauty. And when I leave my body, I will also follow the path of beauty."

"A child is a guest in your house - feed, learn and let go."

"Ask a question from your heart, and you will hear the answer from your heart."

“Talk to the children when they eat, and what you say will remain even when you are gone.”

"When you see a rattlesnake preparing to strike, hit first."

"You can't wake up a person who is pretending to be asleep."

“The white man is greedy. In his pocket he carries a canvas rag into which he blows his nose out - as if afraid that he might blow his nose and miss something very valuable."

"We are poor because we are honest."

"When a person prays for one day and then sins for six, the Great Spirit gets angry, and the Evil Spirit laughs."

"A word well spoken is better than a well-thrown ax."

"Even a dead fish can go with the flow."

"The soul will not have a rainbow if there were no tears in the eyes."

“Life flows from the inside to the outside. By following this thought, you yourself will become the truth."

"Everything on earth has a purpose, every disease is a medicine that heals it, and every person has a purpose."

“What is a man without animals? If all animals are exterminated, man will die of great loneliness of spirit. Everything that happens to animals happens to humans."

“Let my enemy be strong and terrible. If I beat him, I will not feel ashamed.”

“If you talk to owls or snakes, they will talk to you, and you will know each other. If you don’t talk to them, you don’t recognize them, and what you don’t know, you will be afraid. Man destroys what he fears."

"The homeland is where you feel good."

"The enemy is not always the enemy, but each other."

“When you were born, you cried and the world laughed. Live so that, dying, you laugh, and the world cries."