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Native American Proverbs

It is less of a problem to be poor, than to be dishonest.
Anishinabe

What the people believe is true.
Anishinabe

It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.
Apache

Each bird loves to hear himself sing.
Arapaho

All plants are our brothers and sisters. They talk to us and if we listen, we can hear them.
Arapaho

Take only what you need and leave the land as you found it.
Arapaho

Before eating, always take time to thank the food.
Arapaho

When we show our respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us.
Arapaho

If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come.
Arapaho

Most of us do not look as handsome to others as we do to ourselves.
Assiniboine

Those that lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.
Blackfoot

Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way.
Blackfoot

What is life? It is the flash of a 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...
Blackfoot

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, he world cries and you rejoice.
Cherokee

Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.
Cherokee

The weakness of the enemy makes our strength.
Cherokee

A good soldier is a poor scout.
Cheyenne

If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove.
Cheyenne

Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark.
Cheyenne

Do not judge your neighbor until you walk two moons in his moccasins.
Cheyenne

A danger foreseen is half-avoided.
Cheyenne

Our first teacher is our own heart.
Cheyenne

All who have died are equal.
Comanche

One rain does not make a crop.
Creole

Man's law changes with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit remain always the same.
Crow

Old age is not as honorable as death, but most people want it.
Crow

You already possess everything necessary to become great.
Crow

We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.
Dakota

There is no death, only a change of worlds.
Duwamish

Day and night cannot dwell together.
Duwamish

In age, talk; in childhood, tears.
Hopi

One finger cannot lift a pebble.
Hopi

All dreams spin out from the same web.
Hopi

The one who tells the stories rules the world.
Hopi

The rain falls on the just and the unjust.
Hopi

Don't be afraid to cry. It will free your mind of sorrowful thoughts.
Hopi

Wisdom comes only when you stop looking for it and start living the life the Creator intended for you.
Hopi

The rainbow is a sign from Him who is in all things.
Hopi

A brave man dies but once, a coward many times.
Iowa

Walk lightly in the spring; Mother Earth is pregnant.
Kiowa

When a man moves away from nature his heart becomes hard.
Lakota

Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance.
Lakota

Many have fallen with the bottle in their hand.
Lakota

Everything the power does, it does in a circle.
Lakota

A man or woman with many children has many homes.
Lakota Sioux

Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past, Wisdom is of the future.
Lumbee

Everyone who is successful must have dreamed of something.
Maricopa

If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
Minquass

A good chief gives, he does not take.
Mohawk

Remember that your children are not your own, but are lent to you by the Creator.
Mohawk

Regard Heaven as your father, Earth as your Mother and all things as your Brothers and Sisters.
Native American

The soul would have no rainbow if the eye had no tears.
Native American

Coyote is always out there waiting, and Coyote is always hungry.
Navajo

There is nothing as eloquent as a rattlesnakes tail.
Navajo

You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.
Navajo

A rocky vinyard does not need a prayer, but a pick ax.
Navajo

Every animal knows more than you do.
Nez Perce

White men have too many chiefs.
Nez Perce

To touch the earth is to have harmony with nature.
Oglala Sioux

When a fox walks lame, the old rabbit jumps.
Oklahoma

A starving man will eat with the wolf.
Oklahoma

The coward shoots with shut eyes.
Oklahoma

It is easy to be brave from a distance.
Omaha

The bird who has eaten cannot fly with the bird that is hungry.
Omaha

Ask questions from you heart and you will be answered from the heart.
Omaha

A hungry stomach makes a short prayer.
Paiute

Do not wrong or hate your neighbor for it is not he that you wrong but yourself.
Pima

Make my enemy brave and strong, so that if defeated, I will not be ashamed.
Plains

Cherish youth, but trust old age.
Pueblo

Sharing and giving are the ways of God.
Sauk

We are all one child spinning through Mother Sky.
Shawnee

Each person is his own judge.
Shawnee

Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.
Shawnee - Chief Tecumseh

We are made from Mother Earth and we go back to Mother Earth.
Shenandoah

It is no longer good enough to cry peace, we must act peace, live peace and live in peace.
Shenandoah

There are many good moccasin tracks along the trail of a straight arrow.
Sioux

With all things and in all things, we are relatives.
Sioux

Poverty is a noose that strangles humility and breeds disrespect for God and man.
Sioux

The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.
Sioux

A people without a history is like the wind over buffalo grass.
Sioux

The moon is not shamed by the barking of dogs.
Southwest

Tell me and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand.
tribe unknown

Listening to a liar is like drinking warm water.
tribe unknown

Listen or your tongue will keep you deaf.
tribe unknown

If a man is to do something more than human, he must have more than human powers.
tribe unknown

The soul would have no rainbow if the eye had no tears.
tribe unknown

Even a small mouse has anger.
tribe unknown

Not every sweet root give birth to sweet grass.
tribe unknown

Man has responsiblity, not power.
Tuscarora

Those who have one foot in the canoe, and one foot in the boat, are going to fall into the river.
Tuscarora

They are not dead who live in the hearts they leave behind.
Tuscarora

The way of the troublemaker is thorny.
Umpqua

God gives us each a song.
Ute

A man must make his own arrows.
Winnebago

After dark all cats are leopards.
Zuni

When you die, you will be spoken of as those in the sky, like the stars.
Yurok

Take only memories, leave nothing but footprints.
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

All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. 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.
Chief Seattle

So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view and demand that they respect yours.
Chief Tecumseh (full text is here)

Peace comes within the souls of men, when they realize their oneness with the Universe, when they realize it is really everywhere... it is within each one of us.
Black Elk, Lakota Medicine Man (peace is here)

A very great vision is needed, and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the sky.
Chief Crazy Horse

Hoka Hey! It is a good time to die.
Chief Crazy Horse

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