But if the Vision was true and mighty, as I know, it is true and mighty yet;for such things are of Spirit, and it is in the darkness of their eyes that men get lost.
BLACK ELKOut 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.
More Black Elk Quotes
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If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no power could come through. Then everything I could do would be foolish.
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It is good to have a reminder of death before us, for it helps us to understand the impermanence of life on this earth, and this understanding may aid us in preparing for our own death.
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And as he spoke of understanding, I looked up and saw the rainbow leap with flames of many colors over me.
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Each family is a circle, and those family circles connect together and make a community, and the community makes its circle where it lives on the Earth.
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You remember that my great vision came to me when I was only nine years old, and you have seen that I was not much good for anything until after I had performed the horse dance near the mouth of the Tongue River during my eighteenth summer.
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Any man who is attached to things of this world is one who lives in ignorance and is being consumed by the snakes of his own passions
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The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.
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The life of a person is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.
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Also, as I lay there thinking of my vision, I could see it all again and feel the meaning with a part of me like a strange power glowing in my body; but when the part of me that talks would try to make words for the meaning, it would be like fog and get away from me.
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Now suddenly there was nothing but a world of cloud, and we three were there alone in the middle of a great white plain with snowy hills and mountains staring at us; and it was very still; but there were whispers.
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I looked below and saw my people there, and all were well and happy except one, and he was lying like the dead – and that one was myself.
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Perhaps you have noticed that even in the very lightest breeze you can hear the voice of the cottonwood 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 differing ways.
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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.
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It is hard to follow one great vision in this world of darkness and of many changing shadows. Among those men get lost.
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Let every step you take upon the earth be as a prayer.
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The center of the universe is everywhere.
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Everywhere is the center of the world. Everything is sacred.
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Hear me, four quarters of the world-a relative I am! Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand, that I may be like you. With your power only can I face the winds.
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But I think I have done right to save the vision in this way, even though I may die sooner because I did it; for I know the meaning of the vision is wise and beautiful and good; and you can see that I am only a pitiful old man after all.
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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.
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I had a vision with which I might have saved my people, but I had not the strength to do it.
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Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking.
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A good nation I will make live.This the nation above has said.They have given me the power to make over.
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The power of a thing or an act is in the meaning and the understanding.
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Grown men may learn from very little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and, therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.
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I was four years old then, and I think it must have been the next summer that I first heard the voices.
BLACK ELK