Charles Alexander Eastman Quotes
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!
Children must early learn the the beauty of generosity. They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving.
But to have a friend, and to be true under any and all trials, is the mark of a man!
Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth and the Great Silence alone.
Is there not something worthy of perpetuation in our Indian spirit of democracy, where Earth, our mother, was free to all, and no one sought to impoverish or enslave his neighbor?
He sees no need for setting apart one day in seven as a holy day, since to him all days are God's.
In the life of the Indian there is only one inevitable duty-the duty of prayer-the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal. Our daily devotions were more necessary to us than daily food.
The American Indian was an individualist in religion as in war. He had neither a national army nor an organized church.
The religion of the Indian is the last thing about him that the man of another race will ever understand.
We believe profoundly in silence-the sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit.
The red man divided mind into two parts, - the spiritual mind and the physical mind.
The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity.
Our people, though capable of strong and durable feeling, were not demonstrative in their affection at any time, least of all in the presence of guests or strangers.
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.
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.
As a child I understood how to give; I have forgotten this grace since I became civilized.
In every religion there is an element of the supernatural, varying with the influence of pure reason over its devotees.
No one who is at all acquainted with the Indian in his home can deny that we are a polite people.
The logical man must either deny all miracles or none.
If a child is inclined to be grasping, or to cling to any of his or her little possessions, legends are related about the contempt and disgrace falling upon the ungenerous and mean person.
The logical man must either deny all miracles or none, and our American Indian myths and hero stories are perhaps, in themselves, quite as credible as those of the Hebrews of old.
Indian names were either characteristic nicknames given in a playful spirit, deed names, birth names, or such as have a religious and symbolic meaning.
It has been said that the position of woman is the test of civilization, and that of our women was secure. In them was vested our standard of morals and the purity of our blood.
