Native American Proverbs Quotes

• 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

  496 Copy quote

• 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.

  Black Elk

  Inspirational, Native American, Circles

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

  23 Copy quote

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• At the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit. And that center is really everywhere. It is within each of us.

  Black Elk

  Peace, Native American, Oneness

  164 Copy quote

• Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.

  Chief Seattle

  Life, Lonely, Nature

  202 Copy quote

• What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the Sunset.

  Crowfoot

  Life, Change, Death

  98 Copy quote

• Grown men may learn from very little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and, therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.

  Black Elk

  Children, Native American, Heart

  "The Sacred Pipe : Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux" recorded and edited by Joseph Epes Brown, 1953.

  178 Copy quote

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• 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
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  The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.

  Chief Joseph

  Mother, Native American, Rights

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

  136 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”

  531 Copy quote

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• Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.

  Will Rogers

  Inspirational, Motivational, Moving On

  100 Copy quote

• 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

  64 Copy quote

• 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

• All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man... the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.

  Chief Seattle

  Native American, Men, Air

  Seattle (Chief) (1976). “Chief Seattle's Testimony”

  96 Copy quote

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• A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, The one I feed the most.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Motivational, Dog, Struggle

  385 Copy quote

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

  Chief Seattle

  Motivational, Wisdom, Peace

  289 Copy quote

• I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do 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

  Love, Life, Peace

  177 Copy quote
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  There is no death, only a change of worlds.

  Chief Seattle

  Change, Sympathy, Native American

  Albert Furtwangler, Chief Seattle (1997). “Answering Chief Seattle”, p.25, University of Washington Press

  135 Copy quote

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• Listen, or your tongue will make you deaf.

  Terri Farley

  Native American, Tongue, Deaf

  17 Copy quote

• Everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease and herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence.

  Mourning Dove

  Native American, Marijuana, Purpose

  Mourning Dove (1994). “Mourning Dove: A Salishan Autobiography”, p.69, U of Nebraska Press

  14 Copy quote

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• The more you give, the more good things come to you.

  Robert Muller

  Attitude, Giving, Good Things

  11 Copy quote

• If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys.

  Chief Dan George

  Inspirational, Life, Native American

  336 Copy quote

• Wisdom and peace come when you start living the life the creator intended for you.

  Geronimo

  Live Life, Native American, Medieval War

  232 Copy quote

• The voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers.

  Zitkala-Sa

  God, Sweet, Nature

  Zitkala-Sa (2014). “American Indian Stories”, p.109, Diderot Publishing

  94 Copy quote

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• A wee child toddling in a wonder world, I prefer to their dogma my excursions into the natural gardens where the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers. If this is Paganism, then at present, at least, I am a Pagan.

  Zitkala-Sa

  Inspirational, Life, Sweet

  62 Copy quote

• Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.

  Sharon Creech

  Caring, Moon, Men

  Sharon Creech (2014). “Sharon Creech 4-Book Collection: Walk Two Moons, Ruby Holler, The Great Unexpected, The Boy on the Porch”, p.6, Harper Collins

  9 Copy quote

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