Emma Bull's Quotes

Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys.

They don't know how the world is shaped. And so they give it a shape, and try to make everything fit it. They separate the right from the left, the man from the woman, the plant from the animal, the sun from the moon. They only want to count to two.

If I agree to dispose of any part of our land to the white people I would feel guilty of taking food away from our children's mouths, and I do not wish to be that mean.

Only seven years ago we made a treaty by which we were assured that the buffalo country should be left to us forever. Now they threaten to take that from us also.

I am here by the will of the Great Spirit, and by his will I am chief.

In my early days, I was eager to learn and to do things, and therefore I learned quickly.

Every seed is awakened, and all animal life.

If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the first place.

Now that we are poor, we are free. No white man controls our footsteps.

Therefore, I do not wish to consider any proposition to cede any portion of our tribal holdings to the Great Father.

I want to tell you that if the Great Spirit had chosen anyone to be the chief of this country, it is myself.

I was very sorry when I found out that your intentions were good and not what I supposed they were.

Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!

Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.

If we must die, we die defending our rights.

I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle.

You think I am a fool, but you are a greater fool than I am.

What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and left me unfed? Who has seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken?

They claim this mother of ours, the Earth, for their own use, and fence their neighbors away from her, and deface her with their buildings and their refuse.

Each man is good in His sight. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows.

There are things they tell us that sound good to hear, but when they have accomplished their purpose they will go home and will not try to fulfill our agreements with them.

The white man knows how to make everything, but he does not know how to distribute it.

They want us to give up another chunk of our tribal land. This is not the first time or the last time.

Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country?

Strangely enough, they have a mind to till the soil, and the love of possessions is a disease in them.

I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place.