Wilma Mankiller Quotes

Quotes about:

• The happiest people I've ever met, regardless of their profession, their social standing, or their economic status, are people that are fully engaged in the world around them. The most fulfilled people are the ones who get up every morning and stand for something larger than themselves. They are the people who care about others, who will extend a helping hand to someone in need or will speak up about an injustice when they see it.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Happiness, Being Happy, Morning

  151 Copy quote

• Cows run away from the storm while the buffalo charges toward it - and gets through it quicker. Whenever I’m confronted with a tough challenge, I do not prolong the torment, I become the buffalo.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Inspirational, Running, Native American

  152 Copy quote

• An Indian is an Indian regardless of the degree of Indian blood or which little government card they do or do not possess.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Native American, Race, Government

  142 Copy quote

• Take care how you place your moccasins upon the Earth, step with care, for the faces of the future generations are looking up from the Earth waiting their turn for life.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Waiting, Environmental, Steps

  96 Copy quote

• Whoever controls the education of our children controls the future.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Children, Our Children

  83 Copy quote

• The secret of our success is that we never, never give up.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Inspirational, Moving On, Success

  93 Copy quote

• If you argue with a fool, someone passing by will not be able to tell who is the fool and who is not.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Passing By, Able, Fool

  89 Copy quote

• Look forward. Turn what has been done into a better path.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Looks, Done, Path

  30 Copy quote

• Recognizing the good, not just in one's own personal circumstances, but in the world, makes anything possible. When I am asked about the important characteristics of leadership, being of good, positive mind is at the top of my list. If a leader can focus on the meritorious characteristics of other people and try to play to their strengths as well as find value in even the most difficult situation, she can inspire hope and faith in others and motivate them to move forward.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Leadership, Moving, Difficult Situations

  85 Copy quote

• In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Women, Past, People

  70 Copy quote

• Remember that I am just a woman who is living a very abundant life. Every step I take forward is on a path paved by strong Indian women before me.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Strong, Path, Steps

  78 Copy quote

• Women in leadership roles can help restore balance and wholeness to our communities.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Community, Balance, Roles

  45 Copy quote

• I learned a long time ago that I can't control the challenges the creator sends my way, but I can control the way I think about them and deal with them

  Wilma Mankiller

  Thinking, Long, Challenges

  15 Copy quote

• Though many non-Native Americans have learned very little about us, over time we have had to learn everything about them. We watch their films, read their literature, worship in their churches, and attend their schools. Every third-grade student in the United States is presented with the concept of Europeans discovering America as a "New World" with fertile soil, abundant gifts of nature, and glorious mountains and rivers. Only the most enlightened teachers will explain that this world certainly wasn't new to the millions of indigenous people who already lived here when Columbus arrived.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Teacher, Native American, School

  Wilma Mankiller, Gloria Steinem (2016). “Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women”, p.73, Fulcrum Publishing

  53 Copy quote

• I don't think 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.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Education, Children, Future

  61 Copy quote

• Negative thoughts were treated by Cherokee healers with the same medicines as wounds, headaches, or physical illness. It was believed that unchecked negative thoughts can permeate the being and manifest themselves in negative actions.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Medicine, Negativity, Negative

  Wilma Mankiller, Gloria Steinem (2016). “Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women”, p.47, Fulcrum Publishing

  9 Copy quote

• I've run into more discrimination as a woman than as an Indian.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Running, Discrimination, Indian

  53 Copy quote

• Growth is a painful process.
  If we’re ever going to collectively begin to grapple with the problems that we have collectively, we’re going to have to move back the veil and deal with each other on a more human level.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Moving, Growth, Veils

  48 Copy quote

• Western movies always seemed to show Indian women washing clothes at the creek and men with a tomahawk or spear in their hands, adorned with lots of feathers. That image has stayed in some people's minds. Many think we're either visionaries, `noble savages,' squaw drudges or tragic alcoholics. We're very rarely depicted as real people who have greater tenacity in terms of trying to hang on to our culture and values system than most people.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Real, Men, Thinking

  14 Copy quote

• Everybody is sitting around saying, 'Well, jeez, we need somebody to solve this problem of bias.' That somebody is us. We all have to try to figure out a better way to get along.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Tolerance, Trying, Prejudice

  45 Copy quote

• Friends describe me as someone who likes to sing and dance along the edge of the roof. I try to encourage young women to be willing to take risks, to stand up for the things they believe in, and to step up and accept the challenge of serving in leadership roles.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Believe, Challenges, Risk

  50 Copy quote

• We must trust our own thinking. Trust where we're going. And get the job done.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Trust, Jobs, Healing

  43 Copy quote

• Prior to my election, young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Girl, Growing Up, Women

  24 Copy quote

• America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Leadership, Thinking, America

  9 Copy quote

• I think the most important issue we have as a people is what we started, and that is to begin to trust our own thinking again and belive in ourselves enough to think that we can articulate our own vision of the future and then work to make sure that that vision becomes a reality.

  Wilma Mankiller

  Trust, Future, Reality

  "Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation". Speech at Sweet Briar College, gos.sbc.edu. April 02, 1993.

  50 Copy quote

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