40 Best Native American Quotes and Proverbs that are specially Curated for You
40 Best Native American Quotes and Proverbs that are specially Curated for You
Native Americans also known as indigenous Americans have left behind a rich history full of ancient discoveries, their vernacular cultural practices and spiritual wisdom, which leaves everybody in awe even to this day.
Native Americans or American Indians are basically indigenous tribes that originally hail from the contiguous United States. They are the indigenous people of the United States, who were mistaken for Indians by Christopher Columbus as their skin color was similar to Indians.
The culture and religious practices of Native Indians differ from tribe to tribe, as they were divided into small bands. Therefore, each band or group had their unique rituals, customs and religious practices, that they observed with great stride.
In Native American culture nature is regarded as the foundation of which all life and spirit is built. The main tenants of their culture include creating a harmonious balance with nature, enduring suffering, respect and non-interference towards others.
The spiritual values of Native Americans might be monotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic, animistic, shamanistic or pantheistic. However, most Native Americans such as the Lakota tribe highly regard the four essential values of their tribe which includes generosity, kinship, fortitude and wisdom.
Native Americans have a deep and intense worldview that are infused with spiritual meaning and their love for their land and people. They believe in collective support of family and building community to create great satisfaction that defines happiness.
Let’s learn about the wisdom of Native Americans by reading these 40 best Native American quotes and proverbs that we have specially curated for you.
40 Best Native American Quotes and Proverbs that are specially Curated for You
1. “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, Duwamish
2. “Old age is not as honorable as death, but most people want it.” – Crow
3. “Honor the sacred. Honor the Earth, our Mother. Honor the Elders. Honor all with whom we share the Earth:-Four-leggeds, two-leggeds, winged ones, Swimmers, crawlers, plant and rock people. Walk in balance and beauty.” – Native American Elder
4. “You already possess everything necessary to become great.” – Crow
5. “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
6. “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
7. “Friend do it this way-that is, whatever you do in life, do the very best you can with both your heart and minds. And if you do it that way, the Power of the Universe will come to your assistance, if you heart and mind are in Unity. When one sits in the Hoop Of The People, one must be responsible because All of Creation ins related. And the Hurt of one is the hurt of all. And the honor of one is the honor of all.
And whatever we do effects everything in the universe. If you do it that way-that is, if you truly join your heart and mind as One-whatever you ask for, that the Way it’s Going to be.” – Lakota Instructions for Living passed down from White Buffalo Calf Woman
8. “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
9. “May the stars carry your sadness away, May the flowers fill your heart with beauty, May hope forever wipe away your tears, And, above all, may silence make you strong.” – Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation
10. “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
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11. “Hold on to what is good, Even if it’s a handful of earth. Hold on to what you believe, Even if it’s a tree that stands by itself. Hold on to what you must do, Even if it’s a long way from here. Hold on to your life, Even if it’s easier to let go. Hold on to my hand, Even if someday I’ll be gone away from you.” – Crowfoot
12. “Humor is widely used by Indians to deal with life. Indian gatherings are marked by laughter and jokes, many directed at the horrors of history, at the continuing impact of colonization, and at the biting knowledge that living as an exile in one’s own land necessitates. . . Certainly the time frame we presently inhabit has much that is shabby and tricky to offer; and much that needs to be treated with laughter and ironic humor.” – Dennis Banks
13. “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, Oglala Lakota Sioux
14. “Go forward with courage. When you are in doubt, be still, and wait; when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage. 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, Ponca Chief
15. “It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.” – Apache Tribe
16. “When you know who you are; when your mission is clear and you burn with the inner fire of unbreakable will; no cold can touch your heart; no deluge can dampen your purpose. You know that you are alive. – Chief Seattle, Duwamish, Native American Quotes
17. “We live, we die, and like the grass and trees, renew ourselves from the soft earth of the grave. Stones crumble and decay, faiths grow old and they are forgotten, but new beliefs are born. The faith of the villages is dust now… but it will grow again… like the trees.” – Chief Joseph, Nez Perce
18. “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 things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.” – Black Elk, Black Elk Speaks, Native American Quotes
19. “Grown men can learn from very little children for the hearts of the little children are pure. Therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.” – Black Elk, Oglala Lakota Sioux, Native American Quotes
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Popular Native American Proverbs:
20. “Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past, wisdom is of the future.” – Native American Proverb
21. “You already possess everything necessary to become great.” – Native American Quotes
22. “Do not judge your neighbor until you walk two moons in his moccasins.” – Cheyenne
23. “Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark.” – Native American Proverb
24. “When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”
25. “Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart.”
26. “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand.”
27. “Those who have one foot in the canoe, and one foot in the boat, are going to fall into the river.”
28. “Man has responsibility, not power.”
29. “When we show our respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us.”
30. “Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way.”
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31. “Listen, or your tongue will make you deaf.”
32. “If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove.”
33. “I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself.” – Shooter Teton Sioux, Native American Quotes
34. “What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.” – Blackfoot
35. “It is less of a problem to be poor than to be dishonest.” – Anishinabe
36. “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.”
37. “No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning.”
38. “It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story.”
39. “Don’t be afraid to cry. It will free your mind of sorrowful thoughts.” – Hopi
40. “You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.” – Navajo, Native American Quotes
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