Native American Quotes - Page 12

• The most Indian thing about the Indian is surely not his moccasins or his calumet, his wampum or his stone hatched, but traits of character and sagacity, skill, or passion.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Passion, Character, Skills

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edward Waldo Emerson, Waldo Emerson Forbes (1911). “Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1820-1872 [1876] Ed”

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• [The is] a mistaken belief that [the word Indian] refers somehow to the country, India. When Columbus washed up on the beach in the Caribbean, he was not looking for a country called India. Europeans were calling that country Hindustan in 1492.... Columbus called the tribal people he met "Indio," from the Italian in dio, meaning "in God."

  Russell Means

  Country, Beach, Italian

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• But if the Vision was true and mighty, as I know, it is true and mighty yet;for such things are of Spirit, and it is in the darkness of their eyes that men get lost.

  Black Elk

  Eye, Men, Darkness

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

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• You see the one thing I've always maintained is that I'm an American Indian. I'm not a Native American. I'm not politically correct. Everyone who's born in the Western Hemisphere is a Native American. We are all Native Americans. And if you notice, I put American before my ethnicity. I'm not a hyphenated African-American or Irish-American or Jewish-American or Mexican-American.

  Russell Means

  Ethnicity, Mexican, African American

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• A native American group has filed a class-action lawsuit against the government for mismanagement of oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties since 1887. They're seeking $100 billion. Here's the good news: The government has responded what I believe is an appropriate counteroffer: A two-cent Navajo stamp.

  Stephen Colbert

  Believe, Class, Two

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• The Old Religion, as we call it, is closer in spirit to Native American traditions or to shamanism of the Arctic. It is not based on dogma or a set of beliefs, nor on scriptures or a sacred book revealed by a great man. Witchcraft takes it's teachings from nature, and reads inspiration in the movements of the sun, moon, and stars, the flight of birds, the slow growth of trees, and the cycles of the seasons.

  Starhawk

  Stars, Book, Teaching

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• There have been players with Indian heritage, but there hasn't been a Native-American professional basketball player who became a regular for all sorts of social and political reasons.

  Sherman Alexie

  Inspirational, Basketball, Player

  "Author Sherman Alexie Talks 'Flight'". Interview with Rebecca Roberts, www.npr.org. April 11, 2007.

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• I have been guilty of watching Westerns without acknowledging that Native Americans have gone through the same madness as African Americans. Isn't it extraordinary that sometimes the most offended have not seen others being offended?

  Judith Jamison

  African American, Gone, Madness

  Judith Jamison (1993). “Dancing Spirit: An Autobiography”, Doubleday Books

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• I'm even taller in person, because photographs shrink you down and steal your soul native american.

  Thom Yorke

  Soul, Down And, Stealing

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• In the Native American tradition... a man, if he's a mature adult, nurtures life. He does rituals that will help things grow, he helps raise the kids, and he protects the people. His entire life is toward balance and cooperativeness. The ideal of manhood is the same as the ideal of womanhood. You are autonomous, self-directing, and responsible for the spiritual, social and material life of all those with whom you live.

  Paula Gunn Allen

  Spiritual, Kids, Men

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• And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people as one of many hoops that made one circle.

  Black Elk

  Circles, People, Sacred

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

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• For once, I believe that PETA, at least on the level of logic, is correct. If the NCAA has to protect offended Native Americans ... by God, PETA ought to advocate for the protection of every organism in the animal kingdom.

  Tom Feeney

  God, Believe, Animal

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• 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

  Marijuana, Purpose, Earth

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

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• Only to the white man was nature a 'wilderness'.

  Luther Standing Bear

  Men, White Man, Wilderness

  Luther Standing Bear (2006). “Land of the Spotted Eagle”, p.38, U of Nebraska Press

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• If you look at the statistics regarding Native Americans, you will see that most of the tribes since the 70s have improved their economic situation in some form. And this has been brought about by their aggressive assertion of their sovereign treaty rights.

  Leonard Peltier

  Rights, Statistics, Sovereign

  Source: montanapioneer.com

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• Look at the Native American culture. They revere the elders.

  Thomas Haden Church

  Culture, Looks, Elders

  "Church's Doctrine". Interview with Andrew Goldman, www.elle.com. May 23, 2007.

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• There is probably a high percentage of Native Americans as well as non-Indians who feel that participating in this greater American economy that you mentioned is and has become a recipe for disaster in the long term, because the response to social and environmental problems has been responded to with a drug mentality, which is to say, anything for the quick fix. And it has trained the public to always believe they are one purchase away from happiness.

  Leonard Peltier

  Believe, Long, Drug

  Source: montanapioneer.com

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• I once said, "You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent." When Bobby Jindal entered the Republican campaign, my comment should have been covered again, more prominently. I mean, Jindal is not Native American, he's a real Indian.

  Joe Biden

  Real, Mean, Should Have

  "Chris Wallace Interviews Joe Biden: A Retrospective". Interview with Chris Wallace, spectator.org. October 22, 2015.

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• Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles.

  Black Elk

  Circles, Doe, World

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

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• When it comes down to pure ornamental cursing, the native American is gifted above the sons of men.

  Mark Twain

  Son, Men, Cursing

  Mark Twain (2016). “Roughing It”, p.319, Xist Publishing

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• We also have a piece about the Mayflower, but it's just a very different, very gritty, very character-driven version of why those people were on that boat and what the experience was like for them, emotionally, physically and spiritually, and also the Native Americans and what the state of Native American society was at that time.

  John Landgraf

  Character, People, Different

  "FX CEO John Landgraf Talks FARGO Limited Series, THE STRAIN, and More; Says THE STRAIN Will End Up Running Between 39 and 65 Episodes". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. August 2, 2013.

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• We [Americans] have a historical trauma when it comes to the past relationships when it comes to Native Americans and the history of how America was created. With this film, it's nice to see that the trauma is presented from a white male that was in the Civil War and that trauma affects him in a way that still exists.

  Adam Beach

  War, Nice, Past

  Source: www.chud.com

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• If you don't have a bed, or a dresser or a wall, or a book or a toy you are oppressed. An African American in a white world. A Jew in a Christian world. A gypsy. A Native American. A Chinese American. Let's say, you were born deprived.

  Gerald Stern

  Christian, Wall, Book

  Source: therumpus.net

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• I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Or, as it's known to Native Americans - Sarcastic You're Welcomesgiving.

  Stephen Colbert

  Sarcastic, Wonderful, Known

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• There's an old, private cemetery here in Palm Springs, where I live, just down the street from the airport, that belongs to one of the local Native American tribes, and it occurred to me one day that if you really wanted to get away with murder, you'd kill someone, put them in a coffin and bury them in a private cemetery or, better, an abandoned one. And then suddenly this whole idea of a long con appeared before me and I had this idea of using a Jewish cemetery.

  Tod Goldberg

  Spring, Airports, Ideas

  Source: therumpus.net

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