Black Elk quotes - page 2

I had a vision with which I might have saved my people, but I had not the strength to do it. (Black Elk)
I looked about me once again, and suddenly the dancing horses without number changed into animals of every kind and into all the fowls that are, and these fled back to the four quarters of the world from whence the horses came, and vanished. View quote
Black Elk
And if the great fear had not come upon me, as it did, and forced me to do my duty, 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. View quote
Black Elk
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. View quote
Black Elk
If the vision was true and mighty, as I know, it is true and mighty yet; for such things are of the spirit, and it is in the darkness of their eyes that men get lost. View quote
Black Elk
So I took the bright red stick and at the center of the nation's hoop I thrust it in the earth. View quote
Black Elk
The power of a thing or an act is in the meaning and the understanding.' View quote
Black Elk
The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. View quote
Black Elk
I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. 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. View quote
Black Elk
Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles. View quote
Black Elk
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. 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. (Black Elk)
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. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people flourished. View quote
Black Elk
Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. View quote
Black Elk
Behold" he said, "all the wings of the air shall come to you, and they and the winds and the stars shall be like relatives. View quote
Black Elk
This center which is here, but which we know is really everywhere, is Wakan-Tanka. View quote
Black Elk
Then the bay horse spoke to me again and said: "See how your horses all come dancing!" I looked, and there were horses, horses everywhere - a whole skyfull of horses dancing around me. View quote
Black Elk
All the things of the universe are joined with you who smoke the pipe - All send their voices to Wakan-Tanka, the Great Spirit. When you pray with this pipe, you pray for and with everything. View quote
Black Elk
And as I looked ahead, the people changed into elks and bison and all four-footed beings and even into fowls, all walking in a sacred manner on the good red road together. View quote
Black Elk
In sorrow I am sending a feeble voice, O Six Powers of the World. Hear me in my sorrow, for I may never call again. O make my people live! View quote
Black Elk
Of all the created things or beings in the universe, it is the two-legged men alone, who if they purify and humiliate themselves, may become one with - or may know - Wakan-Tanka. View quote
Black Elk
[The Sun Dancers] also put rabbit skins on their arms and legs, for the rabbit represents humility, because he is quiet and soft and not self-asserting - a quality which we must all possess when we go to the center of the world. (Black Elk)
He was the chief of all the horses; and when he snorted, it was a flash of lightning and his eyes were like the sunset star. View quote
Black Elk
... behind me there were ghosts of people like a trailing fog as far as I could see - grandfathers of grandfathers and grandmothers of grandmothers without number. View quote
Black Elk
My bay had lightning stripes all over him and his mane was cloud. And when I breathed, my breath was lightning. View quote
Black Elk
Flames were rising from the waters and in the flames a blue man lived. View quote
Black Elk