Quotes by Charles Eastman

“Nearness to nature... keeps the spirit sensitive to impressions not commonly felt and in touch with the unseen powers.”

“Friendship is held to be the severest test of character. It is easy, we think, to be loyal to a family and clan, whose blood is in your own veins.”

“The clan is nothing more than a larger family, with its patriarchal chief as the natural head, and the union of several clans by intermarriage and voluntary connection constitutes the tribe.”

“The family was not only the social unit, but also the unit of government.”

“More than this, even in those white men who professed religion we found much inconsistency of conduct. They spoke much of spiritual things, while seeking only the material.”

“There was no religious ceremony connected with marriage among us, while on the other hand the relation between man and woman was regarded as in itself mysterious and holy.”

“Love between a man and a woman is founded on the mating instinct and is not free from desire and self-seeking. But to have a friend and to be true under any and all trials is the mark of a man.”

“Nearness to nature ... keeps the spirit sensitive to impressions not commonly felt and in touch with the unseen powers.”

“The elements and majestic forces in nature, Lightning, Wind, Water, Fire, and Frost, were regarded with awe as spiritual powers, but always secondary and intermediate in character.”

“The American Indian was an individualist in religion as in war. He had neither a national army nor an organized church. There were no temples or shrines among us save those of nature. He sees no ne...”

“In every religion there is an element of the supernatural, varying with the influence of pure reason over its devotees.”

“The true Indian sets no price upon either his property or his labor. His generosity is limited only by his strength and ability.”

“Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth, and the Great Silence alone! What is Silence? It is the Great Mystery! The Holy Silence is His voice!”

“The Wise Man believes profoundly in silence - the sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind and spirit. The man who preserves his selfhood ever calm and ...”

“The surveyors of the Union Pacific were laying out the proposed road through the heart of the southern buffalo country [~1862] ... some of the smaller and weaker tribes were inclined to welcome the...”

“Red Cloud’s position was uncompromisingly against submission... Friends, said Red Cloud, it has been our misfortune to welcome the white man. We have been deceived. He brought with him some shining...”

“The famous treaty of 1868.... Red Cloud was the last to sign, having refused to do so until all of the forts within their territory should be vacated. All of his demands were acceded to, the new ro...”

“Scarcely was this treaty signed, however, when gold was discovered in the Black Hills, and the popular cry was: Remove the Indians! This was easier said than done. That very territory had just been...”

“We are told, said he, that Spotted Tail has consented to be the Beggars’ Chief. Those Indians who go over to the white man can be nothing but beggars, for he respects only riches, and how can an In...”

“It is not easy to characterize Sitting Bull, of all Sioux chiefs most generally known to the American people. ... The man was an enigma at best. He was not impulsive, nor was he phlegmatic. He was ...”