Native American Proverbs

[angelcat]

From the Joynet


1.Speak truth in humility to all people. Only then can you be a true man. (Sioux)

2.With all things and in all things, we are relatives. (Sioux)

3.Love one another and do not strive for another's undoing. (Seneca)

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

5.Each person is his own judge. (Pima)

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

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

8.The more you give, the more good things come to you. (Crow)

9.Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Walk beside me that we may be as one. (Ute)

10/Ask questions from your heart and you will be answered from the heart. (Omaha) Noone else can represent your conscience. (Anishinabe)

11.Do not speak of evil for it creates curiosity in the hearts of the young. (Lakota)

12.I have been to the end of the earth. I have been to the end of the water. I have been to the end of the sky. I have been to the end of the mountains. I have found none that are not my friends. (Navajo)

13.The greatest strength is gentleness. (Iroquois)

14.You must live your life from beginning to end: Noone else can do it for you. (Hopi)

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

16.What is past and cannot be prevented should not be grieved for. (Pawnee)

17.Knowledge that is not used is abused. (Cree)

18.It is easy to be brave from a distance. (Omaha)

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

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

21.Listen to the voice of nature, For it holds treasures for you. (Huron)

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

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

24.God gave us each a song. (Ute)

25.Everyone who is successful must have dreamed of something. (Maricopa)

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

27.It is no longer good enought to Cry peace, We must Act peace, Live peace and Live In Peace. (Shenandoah)

28.There can never be peace between nations until it is first known that true peace is within the souls of men. (Oglala Sioux)

29.Love yourself; get outside yourself and take action. Focus on the solution; be at peace. (Sioux)

30.Be satisfied with the needs insead of the wants. (Teeton Sioux)

31.Deeds speak louder than words. (Assiniboine)

32.Inner peace and love are the greatest of God's gifts. (Tenton Sioux)

33.Do not only point out the way, but lead the way. (Sioux)

34.Strive to be a person who is never absent from an important act. (Osage)

35.We are friends; we must assist each other to bear our burdens. (Osage)

36.Silence has so much meaning. (Yurok)

37.Do not allow anger to poison you. (Hopi)

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

39.There is a need for obedience all around us. (Sauk)

40.Sharing and giving are the ways of God. (Sauk)

[CERuppel]

And now I would like to tell you about one of the smartest and wisest men I have ever met in person.

The only name I have for him is Fred. He was the guide at a fishing camp my family went to several times.

He knew the land and the animals like no one else I have ever met. He could throw a full ax so acurately that he would put a playing card up on a tree and ask for you to chose the row of symbols to hit. Mornings he would chase the bears out of camp just by talking to them (don't try this yourself!). He was like 80 or 90 when I first met him, but it never slowed him down.

He didn't talk much, drank a lot, and joked with us kids all week.

But the things that get him my real respect was his common sense approach to life. Kids played wrong with his dog, so he droppped them in the lake off the dock. Visitors were determined to treat him as "just a dumb indian" and he would act that way for week (he stuck it to them on the dock loading the plane to get rid of them). Things like the bow hunter that wounded his target (a bear) and then lost the trail in the dark. Next day Fred went with him, with his shot gun! Guy asked (really) "Why the gun?"

But even that gets trumped by Freds earlier life. He had been a council member for his tribe. A chief of his tribe. An elected representitive in the Canadian goverment. And was currently the care taker (defacto owner for the tribe) for the huge region that the fishing camp used.

Oh, and in thier somewhere he earned two (at least) masters degrees. Fought in WW2. And took the time to explain how the entire region was water fed from the polar ice cap, to us kids.

Heres to you, Fred. Hope the fishings still just as great.

Lot of wisdom there in those proverbs.

[jokostel]

very wise words of wisdom.

[pickel]

It's embarrasing to admit, by living into today's society, that we're are FORCED to put such noble words by the wayside and have to, at times, and mostly for self preservation have to lie and not live up to our own expectations

Some hard introspection, there Pickel.