'CHEROKEE TEACHINGS FOR HARMONY AND BALANCE'

     Love is something you and I must have. We must have it because our spirit feeds upon it. We must have it because without it we become weak and faint.... Without it our courage fails. Without love, we can no longer look confidently at the world. We turn inward...and little by little we destroy ourselves. With it, we are creative. With it, we march tirelessly. With it, and with it alone, we are able to sacrifice for others.
   --CHIEF DAN GEORGE, COAST SALISH


`When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
    --TECUMSEH, SHAWNEE


What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the Sunset.
   --CROWFOOT, BLACKFOOT, 1890 (ON HIS DEATHBED)


People must be born and reborn to belong.
   --STANDING BEAR, LAKOTA CHIEF


You have noticed that everything an 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 Earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests 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 person is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.
   --BLACK ELK, OGLALA LAKOTA MEDICINE MAN


The good road and the road of difficulties, you have made me cross; and where they cross, the place is holy.
    --BLACK ELK, OGLALA LAKOTA MEDICINE MAN


A raccoon's toughest job is simply to be.
   --RACCOON, ANIMAL TRIBE, PHILOSOPHER AND CONNOISSEUR OF FINE FOODS


Great Spirit, you lived first, and you are older than all need.
   --BLACK ELK, OGLALA LAKOTA MEDICINE MAN


The Earth has received the embraces of the Sun, and we shall see the results of that love!
   --SITTING BULL, HUNKPAPA LAKOTA CHIEF


I'm the spirit's janitor. All I do is wipe the windows a little bit so you can see out for yourself.
   --GODFREY CHIPS, LAKOTA MEDICINE MAN


In our way of life, with every decision we make, we always keep in mind the Seventh Generation of children to come. When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully, because we know that the faces of future generations are looking up at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them.
   --OREN LYONS, FAITHKEEPER OF THE ONONDAGA
     NATION


The center of the universe is everywhere.
   --BLACK ELK, OGLALA LAKOTA MEDICINE MAN


These are quotes from:

WALKING ON THE WIND
   by Michael Garrett