The hawk swoops down on its prey, so does the Indian. In his lament he is like an animal.
BLACK ELKSo I took the bright red stick and at the center of the nation’s hoop I thrust it in the earth.
More Black Elk Quotes
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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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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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Know the Power that is Peace.
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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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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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There can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within the souls of men.
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And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people as one of many hoops that made one circle.
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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 Universe is circles within circles, and everything is one circle, and all the circles are connected to each other.
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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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The Great Spirit is everywhere; He hears whatever is in our minds and our hearts, and it is not necessary to speak to Him in a loud voice.
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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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Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice.
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The visions and ceremonies only made me like a whole through which the power could come to the two-leggeds.
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Once we were happy in our own country and we were seldom hungry, for then the two-leggeds and the four-leggeds lived together like relatives, and there was plenty for them and for us.
BLACK ELK