Native America
Favorite Selections from ToInspire.com

For the American Indian, the ability of all creatures to share in the process of ongoing creation makes all things sacred. {b.1939 - US American Indian {Pueblo/Sioux) poet, writer}  - Paula Gunn Allen

We are the land. To the best of my understanding, that is the fundamental idea that permeates American Indian life. - Paula Gunn Allen

I would place all the Indians of Nevada on ships in our harbor, take them to New York and land them there as immigrants, that they might be received with open arms... and thus placed beyond the necessity of reservation help... - Sarah Winnemucca

When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before the white men came, an Indian said simply "Ours." - Vine Deloria, Jr.

If you live on this land, and you have ancestors sleeping in this land, I believe that makes you a native to this land. It has nothing to do with the color of your skin. I was not raised to look at people racially. What I was taught is that we're flowers in the Great Spirit's garden. We share a common root, and the root is Mother Earth.  - Oh Shinnah

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.  - Hereditary Chief Edward Moody

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. {Shawnee}  - Tecumseh

A treaty, in the minds of our people, is an eternal word. Events often make it seem expedient to depart from the pledged word, but we are conscious that the first departure creates a logic for the second departure, until there is nothing left of the word. {1961 - American Indian Chicago Conference}  - Declaration of Indian Purpose

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. {Mamiwinini, Canada, 1991}  - William Commanda

We know our lands have now become more valuable. The white people think we do not know their value; but we know that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone.  - Canassatego

The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. - Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé