Words of Wisdom pg.4
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"Laughter is a necessity in life that does
not cost much, and the Old Ones say that
one of the greatest healing powers in our
life is the ability to laugh."
Larry P. Aitken
CHIPPEWA
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Without a sacred center, no one knows right from wrong.
Thomas Yellowtail
CROW
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Everything really is equal. The Creator doesn't look at me any better than
He looks at the trees. We're all the same.
Janice Sundown Hattet
SENECA
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If the Great Spirit wanted men to stay in one place He would make the world
stand still; but He made it to always change.
Chief Flying Hawk
OGLALA SIOUX
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"The spirit still has something for us to
discover-an herb, a sprig, a flower-a very small
flower, maybe you can spend a long time in its
contemplation, thinking about it."
Lame Deer
LAKOTA
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He [Wakan Tanka] walks with us along the pathways of Life,
and He can dofor us what we could never do on our own.
Fools Crow
LAKOTA
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But the great spirit has provided you and me with an opportunity for study
in nature's university, the forests, the rivers, the mountains, and the
animals which include us.
Walking Buffalo
STONEY
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"The Old Man said, you are both ugly
and handsome and you must accept your
ugliness as well as your handsomeness in
order to really accept yourself."
Larry P. Aitken
CHIPPEWA
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When you go inside that power, there's no fear. It's so beautiful!! There's
no fear there. There's no pain.
Wallace Black Elk
LAKOTA
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Our people don't come in parts. Either you are Indian, or you are not.
Nippawanock
ARAPAHOE
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"We've got to learn what's going on today in the
world, and we've got to get an education so we
can survive."
Jimmy Jackson
OJIBWA
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"In the Indian way, we are connected to that
flower if we understand its spirit, the essence of
its life."
Larry P. Aitken
CHIPPEWA
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Together we can end the Holocaust against the environment.
Haida Gwaii
Traditional Circle of Elders
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But one should pray in one's heart during a sacred ceremony; this is the
purpose of the ceremony, to purify the participants both inside and
outside.
Thomas Yellowtail
CROW
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But in the Indian Spirit the land is still vested; it will be until other
men are able to divine and meet its rhythm. Men must be born and reborn to
belong. Their bodies must be formed of the dust of their forefathers'
bones.
Luther Standing Bear
OGLALA SIOUX
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It's time. If you are to walk the path of heart, then it is time.
Nippawanock
ARAPAHOE
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A vision could put you on a path you don't want to follow.
Archie Fire Lame Deer
LAKOTA
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"When a community does something together, that
community is very happy, jovial, connected and
unified."
Larry P. Aitken
CHIPPEWA
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Respect should be given those indigenous nations who still carry on their
ceremonies; still following the ancient laws of nature with songs and
ceremonies.
Oren R. Lyons, Spokesman
Traditional Circle of Elders
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Spiritual matters are difficult to explain because you must live with them
in order to fully understand them.
Thomas Yellowtail
CROW
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[The Old People] would gather words as they walked a sacred path across the
Earth, leaving nothing behind but prayers and offerings.
Cleone Thunder
NORTHERN ARAPAHOE
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Conciliation is the key to survival. Peace is the goal.
Haida Gwaii
Traditional Circle of Elders
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When people live far from the scenes of the Great Spirit's making, it's
easy for them to forget his laws.
Walking Buffalo
STONEY
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To be able to greet the sun with the sounds from all of Nature is a great
blessing, and it helps us to remember Who is the real provider of all of our
benefits.
Thomas Yellowtail
CROW
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In some mysterious and wonderful way you are part of everything, Nephew.
And in that same mysterious and wonderful way, everything is a part of you.
Nippawanock
ARAPAHOE
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The base of all things is love, respect.
Vickie Downey
TEWA/Tesuque Pueblo
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Your power comes from the songs.
Ethel Wilson
COWICHAN
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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
OGLALA SIOUX
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Prayer is the best answer to all of the trials that face us, because
without prayer, even if we succeed in accomplishing some great goal in the
eyes of men, we have failed in our sacred responsibilities, and thus we have
failed in what is truly important.
Thomas Yellowtail
CROW
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"Every thing or living being that exists in this
world, be it trees, flowers, birds, grasses, rocks,
soil of the earth, or human beings, has its unique
manner of existence --its essence, its spirit that
makes it what it is. That is what is meant by
connectedness."
Larry P. Aitken
CHIPPEWA
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Wakan Tanka never stops creating.
Archie Fire Lame Deer
LAKOTA
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Each person's prayers can help everyone.
Thomas Yellowtail
CROW
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One of the things the old people taught me about the spirits was to never
have a doubt.
Wallace Black Elk
LAKOTA
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I am particularly found of the little groves of oak trees. I love to look
at them, because they endure the wintry storm and the summer's heat, and,
not unlike ourselves, seem to flourish by them.
Sitting Bull
SIOUX
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To me, if you're Indian, you're Indian. You don't have to put on your
buckskin, beads, and feathers, and stuff like that.
Cecilia Mitchell
MOHAWK
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The law is that all life is equal in the Great Creation, and we, the Human
Beings, are charged with the responsibility, each in our generation, to work
for the continuation of life.
Traditional Circle of Elders
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Modern civilization has no understanding of sacred matters. Everything is
backwards.
Thomas Yellowtail
CROW
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Power comes and goes. It can vanish in the twinkling of an eye, like smoke
dissolving in the air.
Archie Fire Lame Deer
LAKOTA
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Each creature has a medicine, so there are many medicines. Because they are
so close to the Creator, they are to communicate that medicine. Then they
bring help and health.
Wallace Black Elk
LAKOTA
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"Silence and self-control permeate the
entirety of our lives..."
Larry P. Aitken
CHIPPEWA
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The one who wishes to be a true medicine person must
be a person of faith, and they can only work successfully with
those who also have faith.
Fools Crow
LAKOTA
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The real meaning of life is your family, the love that you have, the
respect, the traditional ways, carrying on with them.
Ethel Wilson
COWICHAN
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For me, the essence of a medicine man's life is to be humble, to have great
patience, to be close to the Earth, to live as simply as possible, and to
never stop learning.
Archie Fir Lame Deer
LAKOTA
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"Because woman lives so close to our first
mother, the Earth, she emanates the
strength and hamonious nature of all
things."
Larry P. Aitken
CHIPPEWA
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"But each of us must find out for himself
or herself what their gift is, so that they
can use it in their life."
Jimmy Jackson
OJIBWAY
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"One of the essential characteristics we need to
Learn as men was to be gentle and to be gentle
means to be serene, to enter meditation or a
prayerful state in the morning and evening."
Larry P. Aitken
CHIPPEWA
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The god that people reject is not the true god,
it is a god they have conjured up apart from proper education,
and understanding. In such cases,
the least Fools Crow will do is to call their
assumptions into question, and
force them to re-evaluate their position.
Thomas Mails on Fools Crow
LAKOTA
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"Sometimes, life is very simple, but it is
we two-leggeds, we who are thought to be
smart that make it complicated."
Larry P. Aitken
CHIPPEWA
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"We meet as brothers that have been away
from each other many years."
TIN-TIN-MEET-SA
UMATILLA CHIEF
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People and nations who understand the Natural Law are self-governing,
following the principles of love and respect that insure freedom and peace.
Traditional Circle of Elders
NAVAJO-HOPI
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In our traditional ways, the woman is the foundation of the family.
Haida Gwaii
Traditional Circle of Elders
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Today, what is important for us is to realize that the old sacred ways are
correct, and that if we do not follow them we will be lost and without a
guide.
Thomas Yellowtail
CROW
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The Natural Law is a spiritual law. Its powers are both light and dark.
Oren R. Lyons
Spokesman Traditional Circle of Elders
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People say that crisis changes people and turns ordinary people into wiser
or more responsible ones.
Wilma Mankiller
CHEROKEE
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Indians living close to nature and nature's ruler are not living in
darkness.
Walking Buffalo
STONEY
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Someone must speak for them. I do not see a delegation for the four footed.
I see no seat for eagles. We forget and we consider ourselves superior, but
we are after all a mere part of the Creation.
Oren Lyons
ONONDAGA
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Sometimes dreams are wiser then waking.
Black Elk (Hehaka Sapa)
OGLALA
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The smarter a man is the more he needs God to
protect him from thinking he knows everything.
George Webb
PIMA
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Listen to the howl of our spiritual brother, the wolf, for how it goes with
him, so it goes for the natural world.
Oren R. Lyons
Spokesman, Traditional Circle of Elders
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In the end I tell my children, there's no way I can tell you how to be an
Acoma, how to be an Indian. You have to experience it.
Stanley Paytiamo
ACOMA PUEBLO
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I've had a long regard for generational things: pottery, cultural things,
participation in dancing, extended family. Only in that way does culture
survive; only in that way is culture active.
Tessie Naranjo
SANTA CLARA PUEBLO
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And that, I guess, is what it all boils down to-do the right thing,
everything goes fine; do the wrong thing, everything's a mess.
Robert Spott
YUROK
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A man should rely on his own resources; the
one who so trains himself is ready for any emergency.
Oral Tradition
OMAHA
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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 our future, the future of
the Cherokee people and of the Cherokee Nation.
Wilma P. Mankiller
CHEROKEE
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My Grandfather survived on this earth without using anything that did not
go back into the earth. The whole world could learn from that.
Floyd Westerman
SIOUX
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The hearts of little children are pure, and therefore, the Great Spirit may
show to them many things which older people miss.
Black Elk (Hehaka Sapa)
OGLALA LAKOTA
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Our Spiritual belief is that we were created as part of the land - so our
identity, our names, and our songs are all tied to the land.
Chief Roderick Robinson
NISGA'A
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We do not want riches, but we 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
OGLALA LAKOTA
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Humbleness means peace, honesty -- all mean Hopi.
True, honest, perfect words -- that's what we call Hopi words.
In all languages, not just in Hopi. We strive to be Hopi.
We call ourselves Hopi because maybe one
or two of us will become Hopi. Each person must look
into their heart and make changes so that you may
become Hopi when you reach your destination.
Percy Lomaquahu
HOPI
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Power is not manifested in the human being. True power is in the Creator.
Oren Lyons
ONONDAGA
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Indians chase the vision, white men chase the dollar.
John (Fire) Lame Deer
ROSEBUD LAKOTA
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We create that bad among ourselves. We create it; then we try to call it
devil, Satan, or evil. But man creates it. There is no devil. Man creates
the devil.
Wallace Black Elk
LAKOTA
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What does it matter how long I pray, so long as my prayers are answered?
Sitting Bull
HUNKPAPA LAKOTA
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There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike...
give them the same law... give them an even chance.
Chief Joseph
NEZ PERCE
1879
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Do not take up the warpath without a just cause and honest purpose.
Pushmataha
CHOCTAW LEADER
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Day and night cannot dwell together.
Seattle
CHIEF, SUQUAMISH AND DUWAMISH
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You hear of us as murderers and thieves. We are
not so. If we had more lands to give you, we would
give them, but we have no more.
Red Cloud
SIOUX CHIEFTAIN
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The base of all things is love, respect.
Vickie Downey,
TEWA/Tesuque Pueblo
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