In America, law substitutes for custom.

Snowflakes, leaves, humans, plants, raindrops, stars, molecules, microscopic entities all come in communities. The singular cannot in reality exist.

For the American Indian, the ability of all creatures to share in the process of ongoing creation makes all things sacred.

The root of oppression is the loss of memory.

Medicine people are truly citizens of two worlds, and those who continue to walk the path of medicine power learn to keep their balance in both the ordinary and the non-ordinary worlds.

Human beings need to belong to a tradition and equally need to know about the world in which they find themselves.

Indians think it is important to remember, while Americans believe it is important to forget.

We are the land. To the best of my understanding, that is the fundamental idea that permeates American Indian life.

America does not seem to remember that it derived its wealth, its values, its food, much of its medicine, and a large part of its "dream" from Native Americans.

... America has amnesia. ... Certainly, there is a passion for memory loss in American thought. ... Americans may be the world champion forgetters.

Hoop Dancer is a rendering of my understanding of the process by which one enters into timelessness -- that place where one is whole.

Put in the time, learn something new, challenge your perception and know that a setback is an opportunity in hindsight

It is the darkness that makes the light visible, and not the other way around.

Live by the words of intelligence endured..F@&$ IT!

People who need people are threatened by people who don’t. The idea of seeking contentment alone is heretical, for society steadfastly decrees that our completeness lies in others.

I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.

My motto is: Contented with little, yet wishing for more.

The truth is so simple that it is regarded as a pretentious banality.

A good conscience is paradise.

In my career, my movies tend to polarize critics.

Adversity defines true character.