It is in the darkness of their eyes that men lose their way.
BLACK ELKHe who is well prepared is he who knows that he is nothing compared with Wakan-Tanka, who is everything; then he knows that world which is real.
More Black Elk Quotes
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I saw more than I can tell / And I understood more than I saw.
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Everything tries to be round.
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When we do understand all this deeply in our hearts, then we will fear, and love, and know the Great Spirit, and then we will be and act and live as the Spirit intends.
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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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And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy.
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Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle.
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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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He who is well prepared is he who knows that he is nothing compared with Wakan-Tanka, who is everything; then he knows that world which is real.
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As you walk upon the sacred earth, treat each step as a prayer.
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It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds.
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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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All over the sky a sacred voice is calling your name.
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We should understand that the Great Spirit is also above all these things and peoples.
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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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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.
BLACK ELK