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And if the great fear had not come upon me, as it did, and forced me to do my duty, I might have been less good to the people than some man who had never dreamed at all, even with the memory of so great a vision in me.

Black Elk

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Black Elk
Age: 86 †
Born: 1863
Born: December 1
Died: 1950
Died: August 19
Heyoka
Medicine Man
Tribal Chief
Come
Memory
Great
Duty
Even
Memories
Good
Vision
Never
Upon
Men
Less
People
Fear
Dreamed
Might
Forced

More quotes by Black Elk

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But I think I have done right to save the vision in this way, even though I may die sooner because I did it for I know the meaning of the vision is wise and beautiful and good and you can see that I am only a pitiful old man after all.
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May you always walk in Beauty.
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Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus should we do, for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World.
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All things are our relatives what we do to everything, we do to ourselves. All is really One.
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Grown men may learn from very little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and, therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.
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So I took the bright red stick and at the center of the nation's hoop I thrust it in the earth.
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It's in the darkness of men's eyes that they get lost.
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The power of the world always works in circles.
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Know the Power that is Peace.
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If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no power could come through. Then everything I could do would be foolish.
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And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.
Black Elk
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I think I have told you, but if I have not, you must have understood, that a man who has a vision is not able to use the power of it until after he has performed the vision on earth for the people to see.
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You see, I had been riding with the storm clouds, and had come to earth as rain, and it was drought that I had killed with the power that the Six Grandfathers gave me.
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The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.
Black Elk
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One should pay attention to even the smallest crawling creature for these too may have a valuable lesson to teach us.
Black Elk
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I had a vision with which I might have saved my people, but I had not the strength to do it.
Black Elk
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Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
Black Elk
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Every place is the center of the world.
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Any man who is attached to things of this world is one who lives in ignorance and is being consumed by the snakes of his own passions
Black Elk
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Also, as I lay there thinking of my vision, I could see it all again and feel the meaning with a part of me like a strange power glowing in my body but when the part of me that talks would try to make words for the meaning, it would be like fog and get away from me.
Black Elk