"Listen to all the teachers in the woods. Watch the trees, the animals, and all living things - you'll learn more from them than from books."

---- Joe Coyhis, STOCKBRIDGE-MUNSEE

"Growth is a painful process."

---- Wilma Mankiller, CHEROKEE

"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."

---- Ancient Indian Proverb

"One does not sell the land people walk on." ...

---- Crazy Horse, Sept. 23, 1875

"In the beginning of all things, wisdom and knowledge were with the animals, for Tirawa, the One Above, did not speak directly to man. He sent certain animals to tell men that he showed himself through the beast, and that from them, and from the stars and the sun and moon should man learn.. all things tell of Tirawa.

All things in the world are two. In our minds we are two, good and evil. With our eyes we see two things, things that are fair and things that are ugly.... We have the right hand that strikes and makes for evil, and we have the left hand full of kindness, near the heart. One foot may lead us to an evil way, the other foot may lead us to a good. So are all things two, all two."

---- Eagle Chief (Letakos-Lesa) Pawnee

"...... 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...'

"Children were encouraged to develop strict discipline and a high regard for sharing. When a girl picked her first berries and dug her first roots, they were given away to an elder so she would share her future success. When a child carried water for the home, an elder would give compliments, pretending to taste meat in water carried by a boy or berries in that of a girl. The child was encouraged not to be lazy and to grow straight like a sapling.
'
---- Mourning Dove - Salish -1888-1936

"In 1868, men came out and brought papers. We could not read them and they did not tell us truly what was in them. We thought the treaty was to remove the forts and for us to cease from fighting. But they wanted to send us traders on the Missouri, but we wanted traders where we were. When I reached Washington, the Great Father explained to me that the interpreters had deceived me. All I want is right and just."

---- Red Cloud (Makhpiya-luta) , April, 1870

"Balance is implicit in the Red Road. When you're on the Red Road, you are in the center. Yet, you do not go to either extreme, and you allow both sides to exist. This is accomplished by continually postponing surrendering to temptation, whatever it may be. It is saying `later' instead of `no.'"

---- Dr. A.C. Ross (Ehanamani) / LAKOTA

"We are responsible for the condition of the Earth. We are the ones who are responsible and we can change that. If we wake up, it is possible to change the energy. It is possible to change everything."

---- Hunbatz Men, MAYAN

.."All birds, even those of the same species, are not alike, and it is the same with animals and with human beings. The reason WakanTanka does not make two birds, or animals, or human beings exactly alike is because each is placed here by WakanTanka to be an independent individuality and to rely upon itself."..

---- Shooter; Teton Sioux

"How smooth must be the language of the whites, when they can make right look like wrong, and wrong like right."

---- Black Hawk / Sauk

"I love this land and the buffalo and will not part with it. I want you to understand well what I say. Write it on paper...I hear a great deal of good talk from the gentlemen the Great Father sends us, but they never do what they say. I don't want any of the medicine lodges (schools and churches) within the country. I want the children raised as I was.

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.

A long time ago this land belonged to our fathers, but when I go up to the river I see camps of soldiers on its banks. These soldiers cut down my timber, they kill my buffalo and when I see that, my heart feels like bursting."

---- Santana, Kiowa Chief

"The concept that we are all related is one of the basic philosophies of D/Lakota religion."

---- Dr. A.C. Ross (Ehanamani), LAKOTA

.."You have noticed that everything as Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round..... The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours....

Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves."

---- Black Elk Oglala Sioux Holy Man / 1863-1950

"The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers, he belongs just as the buffalo belonged...."...

---- Luther Standing Bear ; Oglala Sioux / 1868-1937

'When my baby, left me... I found a new place to dwell..".....

---- Elvis Presley (yes.. part Apache) ... just thought I'd throw this in..

"There are many things to be shared with the Four Colors of humanity in our common destiny as one with our Mother the Earth. It is this sharing that must be considered with great care by the Elders and the medicine people who carry the Sacred Trusts, so that no harm may come to people through ignorance and misuse of these powerful forces."

---- Resolution of the Fifth Annual Meetings of the Traditional Elders Circle, 1980

"Traditional people of Indian nations have interpreted the two roads that face the light-skinned race as the road to technology and the road to spirituality. We feel that the road to technology.... has led modern society to a damaged and seared earth. Could it be that the road to technology represents a rush to destruction, and that the road to spirituality represents the slower path that the traditional native people have traveled and are now seeking again? The earth is not scorched on this trail. The grass is still growing there."...

---- William Commanda; Mamiwinini, - Canada, 1991

MORE FAMOUS NATIVE ACTORS AND SINGERS

Irene Bedard, Iñupiaq-Cree[
Moses Brings Plenty, Oglala Lakota
Tonantzin Carmelo, Tongva
Cody Deal (born 1986), Osage Nation
Rodney A. Grant, Omaha
Kiowa Gordon, Hualapai Tribe
Carmen Hart, retired, Lumbee tribe
Jack Hoxie, Nez Perce
Michael Horse, Yaqui, Mescalero Apache, and Zuni
Stepfanie Kramer
Zahn McClarnon
Russell Means, Lakota
Branscombe Richmond, Aleut[
Will Rogers (1879–1935), Cherokee
Ned Romero (born 1925) Chitimacha
Will Sampson, Muscogee (Creek) Nation
Larry Sellers
Eddie Spears
Chaske Spencer, Sioux-Nez Perce-Cherokee-Muscogee Creek
Wes Studi, Cherokee Nation[
Sheila Tousey, Menominee, Stockbridge-Munsee
Charles Howard Thomas, Choctaw
Misty Upham, Blackfeet Tribe
Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate

------

SOME OTHERS WHO ARE FULL/PART INDIGENOUS, ...WHO YOU "MAY" BE SURPRISED ABOUT

A
Oleta Adams - singer
Michelle Akers - football player (born in CA)
Sherman Alexie, Jr. - author
Charles Richard "Chuck" Allen - football player
Paul Allen - microsoft co-founder
Howard Averill - baseball player
Jessica Alba - actress
Richard Dean Anderson - actor

B
Jerry Baldwin - founder starbucks
Bob Barker - television host
Glenn Beck - radio and television host, author
Drew Bledsoe - football player
William Bolcom - composer, pianist
Gordon Bowker - founder starbucks
Linda Buck - scientist, nobel prize winner
Baldwin Brothers -actors
Benjamin Bratt - actor
Kim Bassinger - actress
Jessica Biel - actress
Lisa Bonet - actress

C
Dyan Cannon - actress
Jerry Cantrell - guitarist, songwriter
Chester F. Carlson - inventor
Raymond Carver - short story writer, poet
James Caviezel - actor
Ron Cey - baseball player
Carol Channing - actress
Dale Chihuly - glass sculptor
Erika Christensen - actress
Kurt Cobain - guitarist, singer, songwriter
Judy Collins - singer
Jeff Conine - baseball player
Chris Cornell - guitarist, singer, songwriter
Fred Couples - golfer
Bing Crosby - singer, actor
Merce Cunningham - choreographer, dancer
Penelope Cruz - actress
Cher- singer/actress
Cindy Crawford - model

D
Cathryn Damon - actress
Gail Devers - olympic athlete
Corey Dillon - football player
Mary Elinor Donahue - actress
Howard Duff - actor
Jennifer Dunn - politician
Seattle Dwamish - suquamish indian chief
Johnny Depp - actor
Kirk/Michael Douglas and sons - actors
Cameron Diaz - actor
Lou Diamond Phillips - actor
James Duval - actor

E - G
David Eddings - author
Frances Farmer - actress
Bill Gates - microsoft co-founder
Cam Gigandet - actor
Clarence Gilyard - actor
Richard F. Gordon - astronaut
Kenneth Gorelock - saxophonist
Ava Gardiner - actress
James Garner - actor
Emilio Estevez - actor

H - K
Sigurd "Sig" Hansen - boat captain, actor
Jimi Hendrix - guitarist
Frank Herbert - author
Henry "Scoop" Jackson - politician
Robert Joffrey - choreographer
Kitty Kelley - author
Hank Ketcham - cartoonist
Sam Kinison - comedian, actor
Don Johnson -actor
James Earl Jones - actor
Tommy Lee Jones - actor
Teri Hatcher - actress
Val Kilmer - actor
Salma Hayek - actress

L
Richard "Rick" Larsen - politician
Gary Larson - cartoonist
Gypsy Rose Lee - actress
Jonathan "Jon" Lester - baseball player
Blake Lewis - singer
Ryan Lewis - musician, producer
Timothy "Tim" Lincecum - baseball player
Kenny Loggins - singer, songwriter
Heather Locklear - actress

M
Kyle MacLachlan - actor
Phil Mahre - world cup champion skier
Ross Mathews - television host
Kevin McCarthy - actor
Mary McCarthy - author
Guthrie McClintic - producer, director
Darren McGavin - actor
John McIntire - actor
Duff McKagan - musician, bassist
Patricia McPherson - actress
Jeffrey Dean Morgan - actor
Mark Morris - dance choreographer
Robert Motherwell - artist
Patrice Munsel - soprano
Patty Murray - politician
Edward R. Murrow - journalist (born in N.C.)
Patrice Munsel - soprano
Demi Moore -actress
Robert Mitchum - actor

N - Q
Craig T. Nelson - actor
Billy North - baseball player
Mark O'Connor - violinist
Apolo Anton Ohno - olympic gold medalist skater
John Olerud - baseball player
Stacie Orrico - singer, songwriter
Robert Osborne - actor, film historian
Stephen S. Oswald - astronaut
Abraham Isaac "A.B." Quintilla III - songwriter, record producer, composer, musician
River Phoenix - actor
Wayne Newton -singer
Chuck Norris - actor/director
Elvis Presley - singer/actor

R - S
Marguerite "Dixy Lee" Ray - state's first female governor
Don Rich - musician
Clint Richardson, Jr. - basketball player
Ryne Sandberg - baseball player
Ron Santo - baseball player, sportscaster
Francis "Dick" Scobee - astronaut
Zev Siegl - founder starbucks
Jean Smart - actress
Smohalla - indian prophet, chief
Hope Solo - Olympic medalist, soccer player
Layne Staley - singer
Ryan Stiles - comedian
John Stockton - basketball player
Hillary Swank - actress
Sheen family - actors
Keanu Reeves - actor
Burt Reynolds - actor
Della Reese - actress
Robbie Robertson - musician

T - W
Earl Torgeson - baseball player
Jennifer Warnes - singer, songwriter
Adam West - actor
Sammy White - baseball player
Ann and Nancy Wilson - singers, songwriters (Heart)
Martha Wright - singer
Audrey Wurdemann - poet, pulitzer prize winner
Vanna White - tv / model
John Wayne - actor
Raquel Welch -actress
Billy Bob Thornton - actor
Clint Walker - actor
Dennis Weaver - actor
Fred Ward - actor
Mario Van Peebles - actor
Quentin Tarantino - actor

"But each of us must find out for himself or herself what their gift is, so that they can use it in their life."

---- Jimmy Jackson, OJIBWAY