Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice.
BLACK ELKEverything tries to be round.
More Black Elk Quotes
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I cured with the power that came through me. Of course, it was not I who cured,it was the power from the Outer World.
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For instance, the coyote is sly, so is the Indian. The eagle is the same. That is why the Indian is always feathered up, he is a relative to the wings of the air.
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Behold this day. It is yours to make.
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All over the sky a sacred voice is calling your name.
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I might have been less good to the people than some man who had never dreamed at all, even with the memory of so great a vision in me.
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Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle.
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Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
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Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were.
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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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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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Let every step you take upon the earth be as a prayer.
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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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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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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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Everything tries to be round.
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It is not enough to have a vision. In order to have its power, you must enact your vision on earth for all to see. Only then do you have the power.
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Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking.
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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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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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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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I was four years old then, and I think it must have been the next summer that I first heard the voices.
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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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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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The life of an Indian is like the wings of the air. That is why you notice the hawk knows how to get his prey. The Indian is like that.
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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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So I took the bright red stick and at the center of the nation’s hoop I thrust it in the earth.
BLACK ELK