Black Elk

Give me strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is.

— Black Elk

So I took the bright red stick and at the center of the nation's hoop I thrust it in the earth.

— Black Elk

We should understand well that all things are the work of the Great Spirit. We should know the Great Spirit is within…

— Black Elk

Hear me, four quarters of the world-a relative I am! Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to…

— Black Elk

Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles.

— Black Elk

Grown men can learn from very little children for the hearts of little children are pure. Therefore, the Great Spirit may show…

— Black Elk

It's in the darkness of men's eyes that they get lost.

— Black Elk

“And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream…

— Black Elk

Everything tries to be round.

— Black Elk

Grown men may learn from very little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and, therefore, the Great Spirit may…

— Black Elk

The boys of my people began very young to learn the ways of men, and no one taught us; we just learned…

— Black Elk

I know now what this meant, that the bison were the gift of a good spirit and were our strength, but we…

— Black Elk

Peace will come to the hearts of men when they realize their oneness with the universe, It is every where.

— Black Elk

I think I have told you, but if I have not, you must have understood, that a man who has a vision…

— Black Elk

You remember that my great vision came to me when I was only nine years old, and you have seen that I…

— Black Elk

The center of the universe is everywhere.

— Black Elk

The song and the drumming were like this: Behold, a sacred voice is calling you; All over the sky a sacred voice…

— Black Elk

As you walk upon the sacred earth, treat each step as a prayer.

— Black Elk

Every place is the center of the world.

— Black Elk

It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom…

— Black Elk

Once we were happy in our own country and we were seldom hungry, for then the two-leggeds and the four-leggeds lived together…

— Black Elk

Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles, and…

— Black Elk

I looked about me once again, and suddenly the dancing horses without number changed into animals of every kind and into all…

— Black Elk

At the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit. And that center is really everywhere. It is within each of us.

— Black Elk

The life of an Indian is like the wings of the air. That is why you notice the hawk knows how to…

— Black Elk