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In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.

Wilma Mankiller

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Wilma Mankiller
Age: 64 †
Born: 1945
Born: November 18
Died: 2010
Died: April 6
Author
Autobiographer
Tribal Chief
Writer
Сhief Of The Cherokee Nation
Tahlequah
Oklahoma
Chief Wilman Mankiller
A-ji-luhsgi Asgaya-dihi
Wilma Pearl Mankiller
Making
Decisions
History
Consider
Past
Seven
Remember
Generations
Women
Leader
Iroquois
People
Decision
Encouraged
Society
Affect
Future
Leaders

More quotes by Wilma Mankiller

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Every single person has leadership ability. Some step up and take them. Some don't. My answer was to step up and lead.
Wilma Mankiller
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We must trust our own thinking. Trust where we're going. And get the job done.
Wilma Mankiller
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I've run into more discrimination as a woman than as an Indian.
Wilma Mankiller
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The secret of our success is that we never, never give up.
Wilma Mankiller
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Growth is a painful process. If we’re ever going to collectively begin to grapple with the problems that we have collectively, we’re going to have to move back the veil and deal with each other on a more human level.
Wilma Mankiller
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Negative thoughts were treated by Cherokee healers with the same medicines as wounds, headaches, or physical illness. It was believed that unchecked negative thoughts can permeate the being and manifest themselves in negative actions.
Wilma Mankiller
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Everybody is sitting around saying, 'Well, jeez, we need somebody to solve this problem of bias.' That somebody is us. We all have to try to figure out a better way to get along.
Wilma Mankiller
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I want to be remembered as the person who helped us restore faith in ourselves.
Wilma Mankiller
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Look forward. Turn what has been done into a better path.
Wilma Mankiller
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One of the things my parents taught me, and I'll always be grateful as a gift, is to not ever let anybody else define me that for me to define myself. and I think that helped me a lot in assuming a leadership position.
Wilma Mankiller
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Cows run away from the storm while the buffalo charges toward it - and gets through it quicker. Whenever I’m confronted with a tough challenge, I do not prolong the torment, I become the buffalo.
Wilma Mankiller
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Whoever controls the education of our children controls the future.
Wilma Mankiller
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America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking.
Wilma Mankiller
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I learned a long time ago that I can't control the challenges the creator sends my way, but I can control the way I think about them and deal with them
Wilma Mankiller
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I hope many of you will be people that question why things are and why we have to do them the way we have always done them. I hope you will take some risks, exert some real leadership on issues, and if you will, dance along the edge of the roof as you continue for life.
Wilma Mankiller
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An Indian is an Indian regardless of the degree of Indian blood or which little government card they do or do not possess.
Wilma Mankiller
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A lot of young girls have looked to their career paths and have said they'd like to be chief. There's been a change in the limits people see.
Wilma Mankiller
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Individually and collectively, Cherokee people possess an extraordinary ability to face down adversity and continue moving forward.
Wilma Mankiller
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People say that crisis changes people and turns ordinary people into wiser or more responsible ones.
Wilma Mankiller
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My ability to survive personal crises is really a mark of the character of my people. Individually and collectively, we must react with a tenacity that allows us again and again to bounce back from adversity.
Wilma Mankiller