You can learn a lot about the values and traditions of a culture by its proverbs.
Proverbs are simple, traditional sayings that express a perceived truth based on common sense or experience.
They are often metaphorical and are easily transmitted by oral traditions so they become key phrases repeated in a culture.
Here are some of the most thought-provoking Native American Proverbs to contemplate:
1. Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way.
— Blackfoot Proverb
2. “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”
― Iroquois Proverb
3. “The one who tells the stories rules the world.”
― Hopi Proverb
4. “Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past, wisdom is of the future.”
― Lumbee Proverb
5. “One finger cannot lift a pebble.”
― Hopi Proverb
6. “A people without a history is like the wind over buffalo grass.”
― Sioux Proverb
7. “If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come. If we never wonder, knowledge will never find us.”
― Arapaho Proverb
8. “It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.”
― Apache Proverb
9. 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 Proverb
10. We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.
― Dakota Proverb
11. You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.
― Navajo Proverb
12. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
― Minquass Proverb
13. It is easy to be brave from a distance.
― Omaha Proverb
14. A good chief gives, he does not take.
― Mohawk Proverb
15. Don’t be afraid to cry. It will free your mind of sorrowful thoughts.
― Hopi Proverb
16. Before eating, always take time to thank the food.
― Arapaho Proverb
17. Poverty is a noose that strangles humility and breeds disrespect for God and man.
― Sioux Proverb
18. They are not dead who live in the hearts they leave behind.
― Tuscarora Proverb
19. All plants are our brothers and sisters. They talk to us and if we listen, we can hear them.
― Arapaho Proverb
20. All who have died are equal.
― Comanche Proverb
21. All dreams spin out from the same web.
― Hopi Proverb
22. “Man’s law changes with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit remain always the same.”
― Crow Proverb
23. “Everything the power does, it does in a circle.”
― Lakota Proverb
24. “With all things and in all things, we are relatives.”
― Sioux Proverb
25. “A brave man dies only once, a coward dies many times”.
― Iowa Proverb
26. When we show our respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us.
― Arapaho Proverb
27. Ask questions from your heart and you will be answered from the heart.
– Omaha Tribe
28. It is no longer good enough to cry peace, we must act peace, live peace and live in peace.
– Shenandoah Tribe
29. Man has responsibility, not power.”
– Tuscarora Tribe
30. Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.
– Cherokee Proverb
31. It is less of a problem to be poor than to be dishonest.
– Anishinabe Proverb
32. It is easy to be brave from a distance.
– Omaha Proverb
33. Remember that your children are not your own, but are lent to you by the Creator.
― Mohawk
34. A man or woman with many children has many homes.
― Lakota Sioux
35. The heart is your center, being from your center outward.
— Anishinaabe Proverb
Here are some more Native American Proverbs where I can’t find the source among a specific tribe or cultural group.
36. Do not pray when it is raining if you do not pray when the sun is shining.
— Native American Proverb
37. Do not change horses in the middle of the river.
— Native American Proverb
38. Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart.
— Native American Proverb
39. When the White man wins, it is a battle, when the Indian wins, it is a massacre.
— Native American Proverb
40. No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning.
— Native American Proverb
41. Even your silence holds a sort of prayer.
— Native American Proverb
42. Showing kindness to a stranger is a gift that is always returned.
— Native American Proverb
43. Don’t walk behind me;
I may not lead.
Don’t walk in front of me;
I may not follow.
Walk beside me
that we may be as one.
— Native American Proverb
44. Listen to the wind, it talks.
Listen to the silence, it speaks.
Listen to your heart, it knows.
— Native American Proverb
45. A community that lacks faith in itself cannot survive.
— Native American Proverb
He started Mindful Ecotourism in 2016 leading forest meditation workshops in Stanley Park near his home in Vancouver and today he leads hiking adventures in the mountains of Western Canada in the summer and South America in the winter.
Browse his upcoming workshops, hiking adventures or download one of his free educational guides.
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