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Home
Authors
Sitting Bull
Lakotan
Statesman
About the author
They want us to give up another chunk of our tribal land. This is not the first time or the last time.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Want
#Time
#First
#Land
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.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Now
#Years
#Country
When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world. The sun rose and set on their land; they sent ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them?
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#World
#Today
#Men
#Land
#Battle
#Sun
What white woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Woman
#Lonely
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?
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Children
#Law
#Man
#Abuse
#Wives
What white man can say I never stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet they say that I am a thief.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Man
#Money
#Land
What treaty that the whites have kept has the red man broken? Not one.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Man
This nation is like a spring freshet; it overruns its banks and destroys all who are in its path.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Nation
#Banks
#Spring
You think I am a fool, but you are a greater fool than I am.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Fool
Therefore, I do not wish to consider any proposition to cede any portion of our tribal holdings to the Great Father.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Father
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.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Will
#Home
#Purpose
#Sound
The white man knows how to make everything, but he does not know how to distribute it.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Man
Strangely enough, they have a mind to till the soil, and the love of possessions is a disease in them.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Love
#Disease
#Mind
#Possessions
Now that we are poor, we are free. No white man controls our footsteps.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Now
#Man
#Poor
#Footsteps
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.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Earth
#Mother
#Neighbors
The earth has received the embrace of the sun and we shall see the results of that love.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Love
#Earth
#Results
#Sun
It is not necessary for eagles to be crows.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Crows
#Eagles
I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Man
#Surrender
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?
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Love
#People
#Country
#Wrong
#Father
#Skin
Each man is good in the sight of the Great Spirit.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Man
#Spirit
#Sight
In my early days, I was eager to learn and to do things, and therefore I learned quickly.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
If we must die, we die defending our rights.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Rights
If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the first place.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Man
#First
#Spirit
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.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#People
#Children
#Food
#Land
It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being, and we therefore yield to our neighbors, even to our animal neighbors, the same right as ourselves to inhabit this vast land.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Right
#Being
#Power
#Land
#Yield
#Neighbors
I want to tell you that if the Great Spirit had chosen anyone to be the chief of this country, it is myself.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Want
#Country
#Spirit
I am here by the will of the Great Spirit, and by his will I am chief.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Will
#Spirit
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.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Man
#First
#Spirit
He put in your heart certain wishes and plans; in my heart, he put other different desires.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Heart
#Wishes
Every seed is awakened, and all animal life.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Life
Each man is good in His sight. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Man
#Sight
#Crows
#Eagles
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!
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Earth
#Friends
#Results
#Sun
#Spring
I was very sorry when I found out that your intentions were good and not what I supposed they were.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Intentions
God made me an Indian.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#God
Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.
Sitting Bull,
Lakotan
Statesman
#Life
#Children