Indian American Sayings and Proverbs

'It is as though I have a black dog and a white dog inside me fighting each other constantly.' The black dog, he explained, represented evil and the white dog represented good. The missionary asked him, 'Which dog wins the fight within you?' After several moments of silence, the native said, 'The dog that wins is the one I feed and the dog that loses is the one I starve.'

When you discover you're riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.

The name was never a label. It was, and continues to be, a badge of honor… it is a symbol of everything we stand for: strength, courage, pride, and respect - the same values we know guide Native Americans and which are embedded throughout their rich history as the original Americans.

You have taken the land which is rightfully ours. Years from now my people will be forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people will wear cardigans, and drink highballs. We will sell our bracelets by the road sides. You will play golf and enjoy hot hors d'oeuvres. My people will have pain and degradation. Your people will have stick shifts. The gods of my tribe have spoken. They have said, "Do not trust the Pilgrims. Especially Sarah Miller." And for all these reasons I have decided to scalp you and burn your village to the ground!

Football, truly is about land. The Settlers want to move the line of scrimmage Westward, the Native Americans want to move it East.

It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

Being different isn't a bad thing. It means you're brave enough to be yourself.

No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.

We can be only who we are; no more, no less.

Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.

It is our choices that makes us who we are, and we always have a choice to do what's right.

You can never make the same mistake twice. Because the second time you make it, it's not a mistake, it's a choise.

The three C's of Life: Choices, Chances, Changes.
You must make a Choice to take a Chance or your Life will never Change.

We've all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.

A true warrior does not fight because he wishes to but because he has to.

I'm starting to realize more than I ever wanted to, that doing the right thing doesn't always make you feel good.

We all want to do the right thing. But the right thing is seldom free.

Never forget what someone says to you when they're angry because that's when the truth comes out.