“This is a good day to die. Follow me!”

Healthy feet can feel the very heart of Mother Earth.

The meat of the buffalo tastes the same on both sides of the border.

Each man is good in the sight of the Great Spirit.

Every seed is awakened, and all animal life.

In my early days, I was eager to learn and to do things, and therefore I learned quickly.

Therefore, I do not wish to consider any proposition to cede any portion of our tribal holdings to the Great Father.

You think I am a fool, but you are a greater fool than I am.

I am here by the will of the Great Spirit, and by his will I am chief.

I am nothing, neither a chief nor a soldier.

What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and left me unfed? Who has seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken?

Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country?

Our religion seems foolish to you, but so does yours to me. The Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians and the Catholics all have a different God. Why cannot we have one of our own?

He put in your heart certain wishes and plans; in my heart he put other different desires.

The life my people want is a life of freedom. I have seen nothing that a white man has, houses or railways or clothing or food, that is as good as the right to move in the open country and live in our fashion.

You come here to tell us lies, but we don’t want to hear them. If we told you more, you would have paid no attention. That is all I have to say.

What does it matter how long I pray, so long as my prayers are answered?

I suppose, used a different language or a different etiquette, but ultimately, these are still people that loved and breathed and lived and ate and weed and pooed just like we do now.

The only thing my husband and I have in common is that we were married on the same day.

I don’t know any other way to live but to wake up everyday armed with my convictions, not yielding them to the threat of danger and to the power and force of people who might despise me.

While day by day the overzealous student stores up facts for future use.

The solitude of writing is also quite frightening. It’s quite close to madness, one just disappears for a day and loses touch.

When I first found out I had HIV, I had to find somebody who was living with it, who could help me understand my journey and what I was going to have to deal with day-to-day.

I don’t really need a personal trainer or watch what I eat. I can’t start the day without a hot chocolate or finish it without a few squares of dark chocolate. It’s good for my mood!

So many people doubted me. They motivated me every single day, to be, who I am.