Sitting Bull

“What white man can say I never stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet they say that I am a thief.”

“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.”

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

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

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

“He put in your heart certain wishes and plans; in my heart, he put other different desires.”

“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.”

“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?”

“The earth has received the embrace of the sun and we shall see the results of that love.”

“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?”

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

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

“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.”

“If we must die, we die defending our rights.”

“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.”

“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?”

“It is not necessary for eagles to be crows.”

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

“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!”

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