Native American Proverbs

Don’t be afraid to cry. It will free your mind of sorrowful thoughts. – Hopi

Day and night cannot dwell together. – Duwamish

It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand. – Apache

They are not dead who live in the hearts they leave behind. – Tuscarora

All plants are our brothers and sisters. They talk to us and if we listen, we can hear them. – Arapaho

Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand. – Tribe Unknown.

Before eating, always take time to thank the food. – Arapaho

When we show our respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us. – Arapaho

If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come. – Arapaho

Most of us do not look as handsome to others as we do to ourselves. – Assiniboine

Those that lie down with dogs, get up with fleas. – Blackfoot

In age, talk; in childhood, tears. – Hopi

We always return to our first loves. – Tribe Unknown

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. – Blackfoot

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice. – Cherokee

Those who have one foot in the canoe, and one foot in the boat, are going to fall into the river. – Tuscarora

The weakness of the enemy makes our strength. – Cherokee

When the white man discovered this country, Indians were running it. No taxes, no debt, women did all the work. White man thought he could improve on a system like this. – Cherokee

A good soldier is a poor scout. – Cheyenne

Poverty is a noose that strangles humility and breeds disrespect for God and man. – Sioux

We will be known forever by the tracks we leave. – Dakota

Do not judge your neighbor until you walk two moons in his moccasins. – Cheyenne

There is nothing as eloquent as a rattlesnakes tail. – Navajo

Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance. – Lakota

Our first teacher is our own heart. – Cheyenne

Everyone who is successful must have dreamed of something. – Maricopa

All who have died are equal. – Comanche

Remember that your children are not your own, but are lent to you by the Creator. – Mohawk

One rain does not make a crop. – Creole

Man’s law changes with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit remain always the same. – Crow

What the people believe is true. – Anishinabe

You already possess everything necessary to become great. – Crow

There is no death, only a change of worlds. – Duwamish

Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way. – Blackfoot

You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep. – Navajo

It is less of a problem to be poor, than to be dishonest. – Anishinabe

One finger cannot lift a pebble. – Hopi

Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark. – Cheyenne

All dreams spin out from the same web. – Hopi

He who would do great things should not attempt them all alone. – Seneca

Even a small mouse has anger. – Tribe Unknown

If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove. – Cheyenne

Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children. – Tribe Unknown

The rainbow is a sign from Him who is in all things. – Hopi

Walk lightly in the spring; Mother Earth is pregnant. – Kiowa

When a man moves away from nature his heart becomes hard. – Lakota

Old age is not as honorable as death, but most people want it. – Crow

Many have fallen with the bottle in their hand. – Lakota