2000 Timeless American Indian Quotes About Family

No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning

Family is at the heart of Native American cultures. The wisdom shared by American Indian elders, leaders, and community members shows us deep truths about caring for each other.

Native American teachings about family go beyond just parents and children. They speak of connections to ancestors, the land, and all living things. These teachings remind us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.

In many Native American traditions, family includes everyone in the tribe. Elders are highly respected for their wisdom. Children are valued as the future. Every person has an important role.

These quotes from American Indian cultures show us how to live with love, respect, and balance. They teach us about raising children, honoring elders, and keeping family bonds strong through all of life’s challenges.

Read Also: 160 Life-Changing Self-Love Quotes to Empower Your Soul

American Indian Quotes About Family

Let’s explore these beautiful teachings that have guided Native American families for generations.

• When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money. ― Cree Prophecy

• “The elders were wise. They know that man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; they knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to a lack of respect for humans too. ― Chief Luther Standing Bear from the Lakota Sioux

• Ask questions from your heart and you will be answered from the heart. ― Omaha

• “We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel with God, as the Catholic and Protestants do. We do not want to learn that.”― Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

• The ground on which we stand is sacred ground. It is the blood of our ancestors. ― Chief Plenty Coups, Crow Nation

• Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.― Chief Seattle

• Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.– Cherokee Proverb

• “A brave man dies only once, a coward dies many times”.― Iowa Proverb

•  When we show our respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us.― Arapaho Proverb

• Ask questions from your heart and you will be answered from the heart.– Omaha Tribe

• Don’t be afraid to cry. It will free your mind of sorrowful thoughts. ― Hopi Proverb

• Before eating, always take time to thank the food.― Arapaho Proverb

• Poverty is a noose that strangles humility and breeds disrespect for God and man.― Sioux Proverb

• “Humans are vulnerable and rely on the kindnesses of the earth and the sun; we exist together in a sacred field of meaning.” – Joy Harjo

• “Wisdom and peace come when you start living the life the creator intended for you.”– Geronimo

• “Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking.”– Black Elk

• “A single twig breaks, but the bundle of twigs is strong.”– Tecumseh

•  “You must speak straight so that your words may go as sunlight into our hearts.”– Cochise

•  “It does not require many words to speak the truth.”– Chief Joseph

• “There can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within the souls of men.”– Black Elk, Oglala Sioux

• Amazing the things you find when you bother to search for them.”– Sacagawea

•  “The path to glory is rough, and many gloomy hours obscure it.”– Black Hawk

• “The Great Spirit is in all things. He is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us…..That which we put into the ground she returns to us.” – Big Thunder Wabanaki, Algonquin

Powerful Quotes from Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples

As we read these words of wisdom, we can learn valuable lessons about what really matters in life – our connections to each other.

• “Things which do not grow and change are dead things.” — Louise Erdrich, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota.

• “I release you, my beautiful and terrible fear. I release you. You were my beloved and hated twin, but now, I don’t know you as myself.” – Joy Harjo, three-time poet laureate, award-winning author and citizen of the Muscogee Nation.

• “We only have one earth. Let’s take care of it.” – Deb Haaland, American politician and member of the Laguna Pueblo.

• “Don’t live up to your stereotypes.” – Sherman Alexie, award-winning poet, novelist and short story writer. He has ancestry from several tribes and grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation.

• “If anything at all, perfection is not when there is nothing to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Maria Tallchief, America’s first major prima ballerina and a member of the Osage tribe.

• “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 things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.” – Black Elk, Black Elk Speaks

• “It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.” – Apache Tribe

• “The Holy Land is everywhere.” – Black Elk

• “I like to be able to raise people’s consciousness, yes. And to remind that those of us involved in the receiving end of the oppression, we have a duty.” – Wes Studi, Cherokee actor and filmmaker.

• “The secret of our success is that we never, never give up.” – Wilma Mankiller, the first recognized principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.

• “Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.” – Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota chief who famously resisted the U.S. government policies.

• “If you believe in the power of words, you can bring about physical changes in the universe.” – N. Scott Momaday, Pulitzer Prize winning author and member of the Kiowa tribe.

• “Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking.” – Black Elk, leader of the Oglala Lakota people and second cousin to war hero Crazy Horse.

• “It does not require many words to speak the truth.” – Chief Joseph, leader of the wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce.

• They are not dead who live in the hearts they leave behind.― Tuscarora Proverb

• All dreams spin out from the same web.― Hopi Proverb

• Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way.— Blackfoot Proverb

• “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”― Iroquois Proverb

•  “The one who tells the stories rules the world.”― Hopi Proverb

• “Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past, wisdom is of the future.”― Lumbee Proverb

• Remember that your children are not your own, but are lent to you by the Creator.― Mohawk

• A man or woman with many children has many homes.― Lakota Sioux

• It is well to be good to women in the strength of our manhood because we must sit under their hands at both ends of our lives. – He Dog Oglala Lakota

• Realize that we as human beings have been put on this earth for only a short time and that we must use this time to gain wisdom, knowledge, respect and understanding for all human beings, since we are all relatives. – Cree proverb

• “Love one another and help one another.” (“sákihitók mina wicíhitók.”) Cree Proverb

• “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” – Chief Seattle, Duwamish

Soulful American Indian Quotes About Heritage, and Community

• “That hand is not the color of yours, but if I prick it, the blood will flow, and I shall feel pain. The blood is of the same color as yours. God made me, and I am a Man.” – Standing Bear, Ponca chief and Native American activist.

• “History is a narrative; it’s a collection of stories sanctioned by the ruling power, and reinforced through words and images that suit them. That was the whole point of taking on history painting: to authorize these moments that have been swept under the rug for generations.” – Kent Monkman, Cree modern artist.

• “The land is sacred. These words are at the core of your being. The land is our mother, the rivers our blood. Take our land away, and we die. That is, the Indian in us dies.” – Mary Brave Bird, writer, activist and member of the Lakota.

• “We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.” – Dakota Tribe

• “All who have died are equal.” – Comanche People

• “All dreams spin out from the same web.” – Hopi Tribe

• “Go forward with courage. When you are in doubt, be still, and wait; when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage. So long as mists envelop you, be still; be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists – as it surely will. Then act with courage.” – Chief White Eagle, Ponca Chief

• “I do not think the measure of a civilization is how tall its buildings of concrete are, but rather how well its people have learned to relate to their environment and fellow man.” – Sun Bear, Chippewa

• “If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys.” – Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation

• “We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can’t speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees.” – Qwatsinas (Hereditary Chief Edward Moody), Nuxalk Nation

• “I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself.”-  Lone Man (Isna-la-wica), Teton Sioux

• “I have heard you intend to settle us on a reservation near the mountains. I don’t want to settle. I love to roam over the prairies. There I feel free and happy, but when we settle down we grow pale and die.” – Chief Satanta, Kiowa

• “The Great Spirit is in all things. He is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us…..That which we put into the ground she returns to us.” – Big Thunder Wabanaki, Algonquin

• “Honor the sacred. Honor the Earth, our Mother. Honor the Elders. Honor all with whom we share the Earth:-Four-leggeds, two-leggeds, winged ones, Swimmers, crawlers, plant and rock people. Walk in balance and beauty.” – Native American Elder

Meaningful Native American Proverbs About Life 

• Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow.Walk beside me that we may be as one. — Native American Proverb

• Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows. — Native American Proverb

• Do not pray when it is raining if you do not pray when the sun is shining.— Native American Proverb

• Do not change horses in the middle of the river.— Native American Proverb

• You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.― Navajo Proverb

• “What is Life? “It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. The True Peace. 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 Wakan-Taka (the Great Spirit), and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.” ― Black Elk, Oglala Sioux

• In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations. – Iroquois Maxim (circa 1700-1800)

• Have I done all to keep the air fresh? Have I cared enough about the water? Have I left the eagle to soar in freedom? Have I done everything I could to earn my grandchild’s fondness? – Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh (1899 – 1981)

• “Friend do it this way-that is, whatever you do in life, do the very best you can with both your heart and minds. And if you do it that way, the Power of the Universe will come to your assistance, if you heart and mind are in Unity. When one sits in the Hoop Of The People, one must be responsible because All of Creation ins related. And the Hurt of one is the hurt of all. And the honor of one is the honor of all. And whatever we do effects everything in the universe. If you do it that way-that is, if you truly join your heart and mind as One-whatever you ask for, that the Way it’s Going to be.” – Lakota Instructions for Living passed down from White Buffalo Calf Woman

• “If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace… Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow.All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief.They are all brothers. The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it…” – White Elk

• “Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself, and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.” – Heinmot Tooyalaket (Chief Joseph), Nez Perce Leader

• “May the stars carry your sadness away, May the flowers fill your heart with beauty, May hope forever wipe away your tears, And, above all, may silence make you strong.”– Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation

• “Hold on to what is good, Even if it’s a handful of earth. Hold on to what you believe, Even if it’s a tree that stands by itself. Hold on to what you must do, Even if it’s a long way from here. Hold on to your life, Even if it’s easier to let go. Hold on to my hand, Even if someday I’ll be gone away from you.” – Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator 1830 – 1890

Inspiring American Indian Quotes on the Strength of Family

• “Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?”– Sogoyewapha, “Red Jacket,” Seneca

• “I do not see a delegation for the Four-Footed. I see no seat for the Eagles. We forget, and we consider ourselves superior. But we are, after all, a mere part of Creation. And we must consider to understand where we are. And we stand somewhere between the mountain and the Ant. Somewhere and only there as part and parcel of the Creation.” – Chief Oren Lyons, Oneida in an address to the Non-Governmental Organizations of the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, 1977

•  “The old Indian teaching was that it is wrong to tear loose from its place on the earth anything that may be growing there. It may be cut off, but it should not be uprooted. The trees and the grass have spirits. Whatever one of such growth may be destroyed by some good Indian, his act is done in sadness and with a prayer for forgiveness because of his necessities…”– Wooden Leg, Cheyenne.

• “Children were encouraged to develop strict discipline and a high regard for sharing. When a girl picked her first berries and dug her first roots, they were given away to an elder so she would share her future success. When a child carried water for the home, an elder would give compliments, pretending to taste meat in water carried by a boy or berries in that of a girl. The child was encouraged not to be lazy and to grow straight like a sapling.”– Mourning Dove Christine Quintasket Salish

•  “Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom, an intense and absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power, and principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.”– Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux Chief

• “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. The hawk swoops down on its prey; so does the Indian. In his lament, he is like an animal. 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.”– Black Elk, Oglala Sioux

• “From Wakan-Tanka, the Great Mystery, comes all power. It is from Wakan-Tanka that the holy man has wisdom and the power to heal and make holy charms. Man knows that all healing plants are given by Wakan-Tanka, therefore they are holy. So too is the buffalo holy because it is the gift of Wakan-Tanka.”– Flat-Iron Maza Blaska, Oglala Sioux Chief

• “Will we let ourselves be destroyed in our turn without a struggle, give up our homes, our country bequeathed to us by the Great Spirit, the graves of our dead, and everything that is dear and sacred to us? I know you will cry with me, ‘Never! Never!’”– Chief Tecumseh, Shawnee

• “Traditional people of Indian nations have interpreted the two roads that face the light-skinned race as the road to technology and the road to spirituality. We feel that the road to technology… has led modern society to a damaged and seared earth. Could it be that the road to technology represents a rush to destruction and that the road to spirituality represents the slower path that the traditional native people have traveled and are now seeking again? The earth is not scorched on this trail. The grass is still growing there.” – William Commanda, Mamiwinini

• “I hope the Great Heavenly Father, who will look down upon us, will give all the tribes His blessing, that we may go forth in peace, and live in peace all our days, and that He will look down upon our children and finally lift us far above the earth; and that our Heavenly Father will look upon our children as His children, that all the tribes may be His children, and as we shake hands to-day upon this broad plain, we may forever live in peace.” – Chief Red Cloud (Makhipiya-Luta) Sioux Chief

• “The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers, he belongs just as the buffalo belonged….” – Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux Chief

•  “Religion is for people who’re afraid of going to hell. Spirituality is for those who’ve already been there.” ― Vine Deloria Jr.

• . “Owning land is like owning the ocean, or the air. no one owns land.” ― Tamanend

• “Earth breathes in us.” ― Matthew Edward Hall

• “It was our belief that the love of possessions is a weakness to be overcome. . . . Children must early learn the beauty of generosity. They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving. . . . The Indians in their simplicity literally give away all that they have—to relatives, to guests of other tribes or clans, but above all to the poor and the aged, from whom they can hope for no return.”― Charles Alexander Eastman, Ohiyesa

•  “Listen to the air. You can hear it, feel it, smell it, taste it. Woniya wakan—the holy air—which renews all by its breath. Woniya, woniya wakan—spirit, life, breath, renewal—it means all that. Woniya—we sit together, don’t touch, but something is there; we feel it between us, as a presence. A good way to start thinking about nature, talk about it. Rather talk to it, talk to the rivers, to the lakes, to the winds as to our relatives.”― John (Fire) Lame Deer, Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions

• “To encounter the sacred is to be alive at the deepest center of human existence. Sacred places are the truest definitions of the earth; they stand for the earth immediately and forever; they are its flags and shields. If you would know the earth for what it really is, learn it through its sacred places. At Devil’s Tower or Canyon de Chelly or the Cahokia Mounds, you touch the pulse of the living planet; you feel its breath upon you. You become one with a spirit that pervades geologic time and space.”― N. Scott Momaday

• “Listen to the air. You can hear it, feel it, smell it, taste it. Woniya wakan—the holy air—which renews all by its breath. Woniya, woniya wakan—spirit, life, breath, renewal—it means all that. Woniya—we sit together, don’t touch, but something is there; we feel it between us, as a presence. A good way to start thinking about nature, talk about it. Rather talk to it, talk to the rivers, to the lakes, to the winds as to our relatives.”― John (Fire) Lame Deer, Lame Deer

• “Wherever forests have not been mowed down, wherever the animal is recessed in their quiet protection, wherever the earth is not bereft of four-footed life – that to the white man is an ‘unbroken wilderness.’

• But for us there was no wilderness, nature was not dangerous but hospitable, not forbidding but friendly. Our faith sought the harmony of man with his surroundings; the other sought the dominance of surroundings.

• For us, the world was full of beauty; for the other, it was a place to be endured until he went to another world.

• “White men have too many chiefs.”― Sitting Bull

• “Kinship with all creatures of the earth, sky, and water was a real and active principle. In the animal and bird world there existed a brotherly feeling that kept us safe among them… The animals had rights – the right of man’s protection, the right to live, the right to multiply, the right to freedom, and the right to man’s indebtedness. This concept of life and its relations filled us with the joy and mystery of living; it gave us reverence for all life; it made a place for all things in the scheme of existence with equal importance to all.” ― Chief Luther Standing Bear

• “When a white army battles Indians and wins, it is called a great victory, but if they lose, it is called a massacre.” – Chiksika, Shawnee

More Native American Quotes

Black Elk, Oglala Sioux

 “You have noticed that everything an Indian does in a circle,
and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles,
and everything and everything tries to be round.

In the old days all our power came to us from the sacred hoop
of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people
flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop,
and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace
and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain and the north
with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This
knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion.

Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle.
The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball
and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.
Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon
does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great
circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were.

The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is
in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the
nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s hoop,
a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.

John (Fire) Lame Deer, Sioux Lakota

“Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men,
we didn’t have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents.
Without a prison, there can be no delinquents.
We had no locks nor keys and therefore among us there were no thieves.
When someone was so poor that he couldn’t afford a horse, a tent or a blanket,
he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift.
We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property.
We didn’t know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being
was not determined by his wealth.
We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians,
therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another.
We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don’t know
how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things
that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.

Lakota Prayer

Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery,
teach me how to trust
my heart,
my mind,
my intuition,
my inner knowing,
the senses of my body,
the blessings of my spirit.
Teach me to trust these things
so that I may enter my Sacred Space
and love beyond my fear,
and thus Walk in Balance
with the passing of each glorious Sun.

Chief Tecumseh (Crouching Tiger), Shawnee Nation

“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about their religion;
respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.

Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
even a stranger, when in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people and grovel to none.

When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.

Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools
and robs the spirit of its vision.

When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled
with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep
and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.”

Chief Luther Standing Bear

 “There is a road in the hearts of all of us, hidden and seldom traveled,
which leads to an unkown, secret place.
The old people came literally to love the soil,
and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of
being close to a mothering power.
Their teepees were built upon the earth
and their altars were made of earth.
The soul was soothing, strengthening, cleansing and healing.
That is why the old Indian still sits upon the earth instead of
propping himself up and away from its life giving forces.
For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply
and to feel more keenly. He can see more clearly into the mysteries of
life and come closer in kinship to other lives about him.

Chief Maquinna, Nootka

“Once I was in Victoria, and I saw a very large house. They told me it was a bank and that the white men place their money there to be taken care of, and that by and by they got it back with interest. We are Indians, and we have no such bank; but when we have plenty of money or blankets, we give them away to other chiefs and people, and by and by they return them with interest, and our hearts feel good. Our way of giving is our bank.”

Vine Deloria Jr.

“Children, language, lands: almost everything was stripped away, stolen when you weren’t looking because you were trying to stay alive. In the face of such loss, one thing our people could not surrender was the meaning of land. In the settler mind, land was property, real estate, capital, or natural resources. But to our people, it was everything: identity, the connection to our ancestors, the home of our nonhuman kinfolk, our pharmacy, our library, the source of all that sustained us. Our lands were where our responsibility to the world was enacted, sacred ground. It belonged to itself; it was a gift, not a commodity, so it could never be bought or sold. These are the meanings people took with them when they were forced from their ancient homelands to new places.”

Native American Ten Commandments

1. Treat the Earth and all that dwell therein with respect
2. Remain close to the Great Spirit
3. Show great respect for your fellow beings
4. Work together for the benefit of all Mankind
5. Give assistance and kindness wherever needed
6. Do what you know to be right
7. Look after the well-being of Mind and Body
8. Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater Good
9. Be truthful and honest at all times
10. Take full responsibility for your actions

The Sundance Warrior

We walked in peace and harmony
warriors brave and strong
guided by the Great Spirit in the sky
respecting the ways of Mother Earth
this we taught our children at birth

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