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Character
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An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life:
"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,"Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
-American Indian Proverb
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Guilt
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He who is present at a wrongdoing and does not lift a hand to prevent it, is as guilty as the wrongdoers.
-American Indian Proverb, Omaha
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Learning
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"Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf."
-American Indian Proverb
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Money
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Only after the last tree has been cut down,
only after the last river has ben poisoned,
only after the last fish has been caught,
only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.
-American Indian Proverb, Cree Indian Prophecy
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Past, the
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What is past and cannot be prevented should not be grieved for.
-American Indian Proverb, Pawnee
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Proverbial Wisdom
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Misfortunes do not flourish on one path, they grow everywhere.
-American Indian Proverb, Pawnee
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A hungry stomach makes a short prayer.
-American Indian Proverb, Paiute
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Do not wrong or hate your neighbor for it is not he that you wrong but yourself.
-American Indian Proverb, Pima
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Make my enemy brave and strong, so that if defeated, I will not be ashamed.
-American Indian Proverb, Plains Indian
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Cherish youth, but trust old age.
-American Indian Proverb, Pueblo
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Sharing and giving are the ways of God.
-American Indian Proverb, Sauk
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We are all one child spinning through Mother Sky.
-American Indian Proverb, Shawnee
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Each person is his own judge.
-American Indian Proverb, Shawnee
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Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.
-American Indian Proverb, Shawnee
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Show respect for all men, but grovel to none.
-American Indian Proverb, Shawnee
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We are made from Mother Earth and we go back to Mother Earth.
-American Indian Proverb, Shenandoah
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It is no longer good enough to cry peace, we must act peace, live peace and live in peace.
-American Indian Proverb, Shenandoah
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When a favor is shown to a white man, he feels it in his head and the tongue speaks out; when a kindness is shown to an Indian, he feels it in his heart and the heart has no tongue.
-American Indian Proverb, Shoshone
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With all things and in all things,we are relatives.
-American Indian Proverb, Sioux
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Poverty is a noose that strangles humility and breeds disrespect for God and man.
-American Indian Proverb, Sioux
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The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.
-American Indian Proverb, Sioux
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There are many good moccasin tracks along the trail of a straight arrow.
-American Indian Proverb, Sioux
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A people without a history is like the wind over buffalo grass.
-American Indian Proverb, Sioux
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The moon is not shamed by the barking of dogs.
-American Indian Proverb, Southwest
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He who would do great things should not attempt them all alone.
-American Indian Proverb, Southwest
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Those who have one foot in the canoe, and one foot in the boat, are going to fall into the river.
-American Indian Proverb, Tuscarora
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Man has responsiblity, not power.
-American Indian Proverb, Tuscarora
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They are not dead who live in the hearts they leave behind.
-American Indian Proverb, Tuscarora
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The way of the troublemaker is thorny.
-American Indian Proverb, Umpqua
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God gives us each a song.
-American Indian Proverb, Ute
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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.
-American Indian Proverb, Ute
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A man must make his own arrows.
-American Indian Proverb, Winnebago
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Silence has so much meaning.
-American Indian Proverb, Yurok
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After dark all cats are leopards.
-American Indian Proverb, Zuni
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Walk tall as the trees,
live strong as the mountains,
be gentle as the spring winds,
keep the warmth of the summer sun
in your heart, and the great spirit
will always be with you.
-American Indian Proverb, unknown tribe
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It is less of a problem to be poor, than to be dishonest.
-American Indian Proverb, Anishinabe
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Never sit while your seniors stand.
-American Indian Proverb, Cree
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Knowledge that is not used is abused.
-American Indian Proverb, Cree
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One rain does not make a crop.
-American Indian Proverb, Creole
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You already possess everything necessary to become great.
-American Indian Proverb, Crow
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Old age is not as honorable as death, but most people want it.
-American Indian Proverb, Crow
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Man's law changes with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit remain always the same.
-American Indian Proverb, Crow
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The only things that need the protection of men are the things of men, not the things of the spirit.
-American Indian Proverb, Crow
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We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.
-American Indian Proverb, Dakota
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There is no death, only a change of worlds.
-American Indian Proverb, Duwamish
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The rain falls on the just and the unjust.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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Don't be afraid to cry. It will free your mind of sorrowful thoughts.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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All dreams spin out from the same web.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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The one who tells the stories rules the world.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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Wisdom comes only when you stop looking for it and start living the life the Creator intended for you.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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One finger cannot lift a pebble.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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The rainbow is a sign from Him who is in all things.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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In death, I am born.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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Truth does not happen, it just is.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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The supreme law of the land is the Great Spirit's law, not man's law.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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No answer is also an answer.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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A people without faith in themselves cannot survive.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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Work hard, keep the ceremonies, live peaceably, and unite your hearts.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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In age, talk; in childhood, tears.
-American Indian Proverb, Hopi
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A brave man dies but once, a coward many times.
-American Indian Proverb, Iowa
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The greatest strength is gentleness.
-American Indian Proverb, Iroquois
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Walk lightly in the spring; Mother Earth is pregnant.
-American Indian Proverb, Kiowa
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Many have fallen with the bottle in their hand.
-American Indian Proverb, Lakota
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Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance.
-American Indian Proverb, Lakota
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When a man moves away from nature his heart becomes hard.
-American Indian Proverb, Lakota
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Do not speak of evil for it creates curiosity
in the hearts of the young.
-American Indian Proverb, Lakota
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Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past, Wisdom is of the future.
-American Indian Proverb, Lumbee
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Pray to understand what man has forgotten.
-American Indian Proverb, Lumbee
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Everyone who is successful must have dreamed of something.
-American Indian Proverb, Maricopa
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If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
-American Indian Proverb, Minquass
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The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.
-American Indian Proverb, Minquass
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A good chief gives, he does not take.
-American Indian Proverb, Mohawk
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A rocky vineyard does not need a prayer, but a pick axe.
-American Indian Proverb, Navajo
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You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.
-American Indian Proverb, Navajo
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There is nothing as eloquent as a rattlesnakes tail.
-American Indian Proverb, Navajo
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I have been to the end of the earth,
I have been to the end of the waters,
I have been to the end of the sky,
I have been to the end of the mountains,
I have found none that are not my friends.
-American Indian Proverb, Navajo
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Thoughts are like arrows: once released, they strike their mark. Guard them well or one day you may be your own victim.
-American Indian Proverb, Navajo
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Every animal knows more than you do.
-American Indian Proverb, Nez Perce
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White men have too many chiefs.
-American Indian Proverb, Nez Perce
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Talk to your children while they are eating;
what you say will stay even after you are gone.
-American Indian Proverb, Nez Perce
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To touch the earth is to have harmony with nature.
-American Indian Proverb, Oglala Sioux
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When a fox walks lame, the old rabbit jumps.
-American Indian Proverb, Oklahoma
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A starving man will eat with the wolf.
-American Indian Proverb, Oklahoma
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The coward shoots with shut eyes.
-American Indian Proverb, Oklahoma
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It is easy to be brave from a distance.
-American Indian Proverb, Omaha
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Ask questions from you heart and you will be answered from the heart.
-American Indian Proverb, Omaha
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The bird who has eaten cannot fly with the bird that is hungry.
-American Indian Proverb, Omaha
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Respect the gift and the giver.
-American Indian Proverb, Omaha
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What the people believe is true.
-American Indian Proverb, Anishinabe
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Most of us do not look as handsome to others as we do to ourselves.
-American Indian Proverb, Anishinabe
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Before eating, always take a little time to thank the food.
-American Indian Proverb, Arapaho
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When we show our respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us.
-American Indian Proverb, Arapaho
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If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come.
-American Indian Proverb, Arapaho
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Take only what you need and leave the land as you found it.
-American Indian Proverb, Arapaho
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All plants are our brothers and sisters. They talk to us and if we listen, we can hear them.
-American Indian Proverb, Arapaho
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Each bird loves to hear himself sing.
-American Indian Proverb, Arapaho
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Those that lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.
-American Indian Proverb, Blackfoot
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Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way.
-American Indian Proverb, Blackfoot
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The weakness of the enemy makes our strength.
-American Indian Proverb, Cherokee
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Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.
-American Indian Proverb, Cherokee
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When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.
-American Indian Proverb, Cherokee
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Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark.
-American Indian Proverb, Cheyenne
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Do not judge your neighbor until you walk two moons in his moccasins.
-American Indian Proverb, Cheyenne
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A danger foreseen is half-avoided.
-American Indian Proverb, Cheyenne
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A good soldier is a poor scout.
-American Indian Proverb, Cheyenne
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Our first teacher is our own heart.
-American Indian Proverb, Cheyenne
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Judge not by the eye but by the heart.
-American Indian Proverb, Cheyenne
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Our pleasures are shallow, our sorrows are deep.
-American Indian Proverb, Cheyenne
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If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove.
-American Indian Proverb, Cheyenne
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It is good to tell one's heart.
-American Indian Proverb, Chippewa
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All who have died are equal.
-American Indian Proverb, Comanche
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Treachery darkens the chain of friendship, but truth makes it brighter than ever.
-American Indian Proverb, Conestoga
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Rivers
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No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning.
-American Indian Proverb
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Thunderstorms
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It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.
-American Indian Proverb
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War
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No tree has branches so foolish as to fight among themselves.
-American Indian Proverb
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Books by and about American Indian Proverb
