These 100 Inspirational Native American quotes are a selection of the best quotes from the other Native American pages on this site:
You will find more quotes on these pages and the complete wording of those that are shortened here.
You can also purchase a printable boxed set of these 100 quotes through my shop on Etsy.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Black Elk
Black Elk 1863 – 1950
Oglala Lakota
All over the sky a sacred voice is calling your name.
Behold this day. It is yours to make.
Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of all things. That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that one.
Great Spirit, the good road and the road of difficulties you have made me cross; and where they cross, the place is holy.
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.
Tyler (2016)Black Elk 1863 – 1950
Oglala Lakota
Know the power that is Peace.
Let every step you take upon the Earth be as a prayer.
May you always walk in beauty.
One should pay attention to even the smallest crawling creature for these too may have a valuable lesson to teach us.
Peace will come to the hearts of men when they realize their oneness with the universe, it is everywhere.
Perhaps you have noticed that even in the slightest breeze you can hear the voice of the cotton tree; this we understand is its prayer to the Great Spirit, for not only men, but all things and all beings pray to Him continually in different ways.
The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the Souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.
The Great Spirit is everywhere; He hears whatever is in our minds and our hearts, and it is not necessary to speak to Him in a loud voice.
The Holy land is everywhere.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Cornplanter
Cornplanter (Chief) c.1732 – 1836
Seneca
When the sun goes down, he opens his heart to God, and earlier than the sun appears on the hills, he gives thanks for his protection during the night.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse (Chief) c.1840 – 1877
Oglala Sioux
I salute the light within your eyes where the whole Universe dwells. For when you are at that centre within you and I am at that place within me, we shall be one. (sat smoking the Sacred Pipe with Sitting Bull four days before he was assassinated)
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Crowfoot
Crowfoot (Chief) 1830 – 1890
Blackfoot
A little while and I will be gone from among you, when I cannot tell. From nowhere we came, into nowhere we go.
What is life?…
It is the flash of 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.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Dan George
Dan George (Chief) 1899 – 1981
Tsleil-Wauthth
May the stars carry your darkness away.
May the flowers fill your heart with beauty.
May hope forever wipe away your tears.
And above all, may silence make you strong.
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 faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning
the dew drop on the flower… speaks to me.
The strength of 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
The only thing necessary for tranquility in the world is that every child grows up happy.
Julie, Dawn, Sarah, Redmond, Emma, Kevin, Denis (1990)100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Flying Hawk
Flying Hawk (Chief) 1854 – 1931
Oglala Lakota
Nobody can be in good health if he does not have all the time fresh air, sunshine and good water.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Four Guns
Four Guns (Chief)
Oglala Lakota
The Indian needs no writings; words that are true sink deep into his heart where they remain in silence. He never forgets them.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Geronimo
Geronimo 1829 – 1909
Apache
There is one God looking down on us all. We are all children of one God. God is listening to me. The sun, the darkness, the winds, are all listening to what we now say.
When a child my mother taught me the legends of our people; taught me of the sun and sky, the moon and stars, the clouds and storms. She also taught me to kneel and pray to Usen for strength, health, wisdom and protection.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
John Ross
John Ross (Chief) 1790 – 1866
Cherokee
Our wish is for peace. Peace at home and peace among you.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Joseph
Joseph (Chief) 1840 – 1904
Nez Perce
It does not require many words to speak the truth.
The Earth and myself are of one mind.
The Great Spirit is looking at me and will hear me.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Keokuk
Keokuk (Chief) c.1709 – 1848
Sauk
The Great Spirit has smiled upon us and made us glad.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Leon Shenandoah
Leon Shenandoah (Chief) 1915 – 1996
Onondaga
The greatest power is the Creator. But, if you want to know the greatest strength.. That is gentleness.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Luther Standing Bear
Luther Standing Bear (Chief) 1868 – 1939
Oglala Lakota
Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom, an intense and absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power and principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.
Luther Standing Bear (Chief) 1868 – 1939
Oglala Lakota
Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and his granting a space of silence to the speech-maker and his own moment of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness and regard for the rule that, thought comes before speech.
The man who sat on the ground in his tipi meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures and acknowledging unity with the universe of things, was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization.
The old Lakota was wise. He knew that a man’s heart away from nature becomes hard. He knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans, too. So he kept his children close to nature’s softening influence.
We did not think of the open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, the winding streams with tangled growth as wild. Only the white man was nature a wilderness, and only to him was it ‘infested’ with ‘wild’ animals and ‘savage’ people. To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Maquinna
Maquinna (Chief)
Nootka
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 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.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Mourning Dove
Mourning Dove 1888 – 1936
aka Christal Quintasket
Salish
Everything on Earth has a purpose, every disease a herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Ohiyesa
Ohiyesa 1858 – 1939
aka Charles Alexander Eastman
Santee Dakota
We were taught generosity to the poor and reverence for the Great Mystery. Religion was the basis of all Indian training.
Whenever, in the course of the daily hunt, the hunter comes upon a scene that is strikingly beautiful, or sublime – a black thundercloud with the rainbow’s glowing arch above the mountain, a white waterfall in the heart of a green gorge, a vast prairie tinged with the blood-red of the sunset – he pauses for an instant in the attitude of worship.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Okute
Okute
aka Shooter
Teton Lakota
All birds, even those of the same species, are not alike, and it is the same with animals and with human beings. The reason Wakan Tanka does not make two birds, or animals, or human beings exactly alike is because each is placed by Wakan Tanka to be an independent individuality and to rely upon itself.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Oren Lyons
Oren Lyons 1930
Onondaga
Although we are in different boats, you in your boat and we in our canoe, we share the same river of life.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Pied Riche
Pied Riche (Chief)
Pottawattamie
We must help one another and the Great Spirit will help us both, because one suffers and does not deserve it, is no reason he shall suffer always. We may live to see it right yet. If we do not.. our children will.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Red Cloud
Red Cloud (Chief) 1822 – 1909
Oglala Lakota
God Almighty has made us all.
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.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Seattle
Seattle (Chief) 1780 – 1866
Suquamish & Duwamish
All things share the same breath: the beast, the tree the man. The air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.
Day and night cannot dwell together. Your religion was written on tables of stone, ours was written on our hearts.
Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people.
How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of this Earth is sacred to my people. We are part of the Earth and it is part of us.
Our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch of our ancestors as we walk over this Earth.
Our God is also your God. The Earth is precious to Him.
Take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints.
There is no death, only a change of worlds.
Seattle (Chief) 1780 – 1866
Suquamish & Duwamish
Today is fair. Tomorrow may be overcast with clouds. My words are like the stars that never change.
We are all children of the Great Spirit, we all belong to Mother Earth.
The Earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the Earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Senachwine
Senachwine (Chief) c.1744 – 1831
Potawatomi
The monitor within my breast has taught me the will of the Great Spirit.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Sequichie Comingdeer
Sequichie Comingdeer
Cherokee
The death of fear is in doing what you fear to do.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull (Chief) 1831 – 1890
Dakota Sioux
Each man is good in His sight. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows.
I know the Great Spirit is looking down upon me from above, and will hear what I say.
In my early days I was eager to learn and to do things, and therefore I learned quickly.
Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.
The Earth has received the embrace of the sun and we shall see the results of that love.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Standing Bear
Standing Bear (Chief) c1829 – 1908
Ponca
This hand is not the color of yours, but if you pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be the same color as yours. I am a man. God made us both.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Tecumsah
Tecumsah (Chief) 1768 – 1813
Shawnee
Although ice and snow may lie deep upon my wigwam, I should find a warm fire within.
Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion.
Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life. Perfect your life. Beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.
When you rise in the morning…
give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength.
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
When your time comes to die…
Be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their times 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.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
White Eagle
White Eagle (Chief) 1840 – 1914
Ponca
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.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Wovoka
Wovoka 1856 – 1932
aka Jack Wilson
Paiute
Do right always. It will give you satisfaction in life.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Yellow Lark
Yellow Lark (Chief) 1840 – 1914
Lakota
O Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind, whose breath gives life to all the world. Hear me: I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people. – translated by Chief Yellow Lark
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Arapaho
If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come.
When we show respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Blackfoot
Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way.
When we lift our hands we signify our dependence on the Great Spirit.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Cherokee
May your way be blessed with life by the unifying force of the Great Holy Spirit.
Listen! Or your tongue will make you deaf.
May the warm winds of Heaven
Blow softly upon your house
May the Great Spirit
Bless all who enter there
May your moccasins
Make happy tracks
In many snows
And may the rainbow
Always touch your shoulder
O Great Spirit, help me always:
To speak the truth quietly.
To listen with an open mind when others speak.
And to remember the peace that may be found in silence.
The whole Earth belongs to the Great Spirit.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Cheyenne
If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove.
Our first teacher is our own heart.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Chinook
We call upon all that we hold most sacred, the presence and power of the Great Spirit of love and truth which flows through all the Universe, to be with us to teach us and show us the Way.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Como
I am opening my heart to speak to you.
Open yours to receive my words.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Crow
You already possess everything necessary to become great.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Dakota
We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Hopi
Wisdom comes only when you stop looking for it and start living the life the Creator intended for you.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Lakota
Teach me how to trust
My heart
My mind
My intuition
My inner knowing
The senses of my body
The blessings of my spirit
Teach me to trust these things
So that I may enter my Sacred Space
And love beyond my fear
And thus Walk In Balance
With the passing of each glorious Sun
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Mohawk
Remember that your children are not your own, but are lent to you by the Creator.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Sauk
Sharing and giving are the ways of God.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Shawnee
Do not hurt your neighbor, for it is not him you wrong but yourself.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Tuscarora
They are not dead who live in the hearts they leave behind.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Ute
God gives us each a song.
100 Inspirational Native American Quotes:
Unknown Source
Children are a gift from the heavens.
Honor the Sacred. Honor the Earth, our Mother. Honor all with whom we share the Earth. Walk in balance and beauty.
TylerListen to the wind.. It talks. Listen to the silence.. It speaks. Listen to your heart.. It knows.
Looking behind, I am filled with gratitude. Looking forward, I am filled with vision. Looking upwards, I am filled with strength. Looking within, I discover peace.
May the sun bring you new energy by day. May the moon softly restore you by night. May the rain wash away your worries. May the breeze blow new strength into your beings. And all the days of your lives may you walk gently through the world and know its beauty.
Paul & Emma (2002)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.
Walk tall as the trees.
Be gentle as the spring rain.
Live strong as the mountains.
Be kind to everything that lives.
Keep the warmth of the sun in your heart.
We sang songs that carried in their melodies all the sounds of nature.
