"I was no chief and never had been, but because I had been more deeply wronged than others, this honor was conferred upon me, and I resolved to prove worthy of the trust."

---- Geronimo (Goyathlay)

"My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain...There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory."

---- Chief Seattle

"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

"When the green hills are covered with talking wires and the wolves no longer sing, what good will the money you paid for our land be then."

---- Chief Seattle

"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

"Take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints!"

---- Chief Seattle

Hi Jag!
Took me a while to locate this thread...I will take time to read from
1 to the latest.
I have a question...do you know don Juan?

No.. and that has pretty much been proven to be a farce, Astrid..

Castenedas made a lot of stuff up, from local stories there.. Fun to read, though..

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"The base of all things is love and respect."

---- Vickie Downey, TEWA/Tesuque Pueblo

"The very dust under your feet responds more lovingly to our footsteps than to yours, because it is the ashes of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch, for the soil is rich with the life of our kindred."

---- Chief Seattle, SUQUAMISH

"If you respect something, it will respect you back. If your ancestors respected something, the future generations will be respected back. The Indian ancestors always showed great respect for the Earth. That's why the Earth is so respectful to Indians today. Every Indian naturally feels connectedness to the Earth. We know the Earth holds our ancestors. If we continue to respect Mother Earth, our children will benefit and so will our grand- children. Today, we should think about and pray for our Mother Earth."

---- Elly Blue Ridge

(I've repeated this one a few times.., but it is so true..)

"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."

---- Dan George

"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 (Geswanouth Slahoot) Chief of the Tsleil-Waututh

"My mother had a kindness
that embraced all life.
She knew her place well
and was comfortable in giving everything she had.

This is the tradition of native women."

---- Chief Dan George

"The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air, the fragrance of the grass, speaks to me.

The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky, the rhythm of the sea, speaks to me.

The strength of the fire, the taste of salmon, the trail of the sun, and the life that never goes away, they speak to me.

And my heart soars."

---- Chief Dan George TsleilWaututh 1899-1981

"What treaties that the whites have kept, that the red man broken?
Not one.
What treaties that the white man gave to us they kept?
Not one."

---- Sitting Bull

"Behold, the Spring has come; the earth has received the embraces of the sun and we shall soon see the results of that love!

Every seed is awakened and so has all animal life. It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being, and we therefore yield to our neighbors, even our animal neighbors, the same right as ourselves, to inhabit this land.

Yet, hear me, people, we have now to deal with another race – small and feeble when our fathers first met them but now great and overbearing. Strangely enough they have a mind to till the soil and the love of possession is a disease with them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break but the poor may not. They take their tithes from the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule.

They claim this mother of ours, the earth, for their own and fence their neighbors away; they deface her with their buildings and their refuse. The nation is like a spring freshet that overruns its banks and destroys all that are in its path.

We cannot dwell side by side. Only seven years ago we made a treaty by which we were assured that the buffalo country should be left to us forever. Now they threaten to take that away from us. My brothers, shall we submit or shall we say to them: 'First kill me before you take possession of my land."

---- Sitting Bull

"Any man who is attached to things of this world is one who lives in ignorance and is being consumed by the snakes of his own passions."

---- Nicholas Black Elk

'If you see a sign/ad. that says that you can become a shaman in a three-day seminar... and it/they make all kinds of promises of power and wealth.., take it for what it is... A SHAM.."

--(ME)

"We need to save those Elders who cannot speak for themselves -- the trees."

-- Haida Gwaii, Traditional Circle of Elders

"The greatest weapon of any Spiritual Warrior is love. Love will change minds; love will forgive; love will let go; love will cause good luck; love will heal; love will cry; love will get rid of resentments; love will overcome fear. Love loves love. Any human who is loving will be guaranteed respect. Respect loves love. We need to love and respect ourselves."

---- Elly Blue Ridge