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"We are now about to take
our leave and kind farewell to our native land, the country the Great
Spirit gave our Fathers, we are on the eve of leaving that country that
gave us birth, it is with sorrow we are forced by the white man to quit
the scenes of our childhood...we bid farewell to it and all we hold
dear." - Charles Hicks, Tsalagi (Cherokee)
Vice Chief speaking of The Trail of Tears, November 4, 1838
"I think over again my small adventures
My fears, those small ones that seemed so big
For all the vital things I had to get and reach
And yet there is only one great thing
The only thing
To live to see the great day that dawns
And the light that fills the world."
- Unknown Inuit
"When it comes time to
die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so
when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live
their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die
like a hero going home." - Chief Aupumut (1725), Mohican.
"The land is sacred.
These words are at the core of your being. The land is our mother, the
rivers our blood. Take our land away and we die. That is, the
Indian
in us dies." - Mary Brave Bird
"We learned to be patient
observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow, and courage
from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off
its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its
indomitable spirit." - Tom Brown, Jr., The Tracker
"I have seen that in any
great undertaking it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon
himself." - Lone Man (Isna-la-wica), Teton
Sioux
"Once I was in Victoria,
and I saw a very large house. They told me it was a bank and that the
white men place their money there to be taken care of, and that by and by
they got it back with interest. We are
Indians
and we have no such bank; but when we have plenty of money or blankets, we
give them away to other chiefs and people, and by and by they return them
with interest, and our hearts feel good. Our way of giving is our bank."
- Chief Maquinna, Nootka
"We must protect the
forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We
must protect the forests for those who can't speak for themselves such as
the birds, animals, fish and trees." - Qwatsinas (Hereditary Chief Edward
Moody), Nuxalk Nation
"Brother, you say there
is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one
religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all
agreed, as you can all read the Book?" - Sogoyewapha, "Red Jacket", Senaca
"Our land is everything
to us... I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We
remember that our grandfathers paid for it - with their lives." - John
Wooden Leg,
Cheyenne
"Everything on the earth
has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a
mission. This is the
Indian
theory of existence." - Mourning Dove [Christine Quintasket] (1888-1936)
Salish
"Upon suffering beyond
suffering: the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for
a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and
separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of Seven
Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred
Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again. In that
day, there will be those among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and
understanding of unity among all living things and the young white ones
will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom. I salute the
light within your eyes where the whole Universe dwells. For when you are
at that center within you and I am that place within me, we shall be one."
- Crazy Horse,
Oglala Sioux
Chief (This statement was taken from
Crazy Horse
as he sat smoking the Sacred Pipe with Sitting Bull for the last time,
four days before he was assassinated.)
"A very great vision is
needed and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the
deepest blue of the sky.” -
Crazy Horse,
Sioux Chief
 "We are going by
you without fighting if you will let us, but we are going by you anyhow!"
-
Chief Joseph's warning to the
defenders of Fort Fizzle in
Montana.
"Whenever the white
man treats the
Indian
as they treat each other, then we will have no more wars. We shall all be
alike--brothers of one father and one another, with one sky above us and
one country around us, and one governmeet for all.” -
Chief Joseph,
Nez Perce
"I am a red man. If the
Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in
the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, in my
heart he put other and different desires. Each man is good in his sight.
It is not necessary for Eagles to be Crows. We are poor..but we are free.
No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die...we die defending our
rights." - Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa
Sioux
"I have heard you intend
to settle us on a reservation near the mountains. I don't want to settle.
I love to roam over the prairies. There I feel free and happy, but when we
settle down we grow pale and die.” -
Satanta,
Kiowa Chief
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