The Soul of the Indian Quotes

“The true Indian sets no price upon either his property or his labor. His generosity is limited only by his strength and ability. He regards it as an honor to be selected for difficult or dangerous service and would think it shameful to ask for any reward, saying rather: "Let the person I serve express his thanks according to his own bringing up and his sense of honor. Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth, and the Great Silence alone!. What is Silence? It is the Great Mystery! The Holy Silence is His voice!”
― Charles Alexander (Ohiyesa) Eastman, The Soul of the Indian

“The logical man must either deny all miracles or none.”
― Charles Alexander (Ohiyesa) Eastman, The Soul of the Indian

“To the untutored sage, the concentration of population was the prolific mother of all evils, moral no less than physical. He argued that food is good, while surfeit kills; that love is good, but lust destroys; and not less dreaded than the pestilence following upon crowded and unsanitary dwellings was the loss of spiritual power inseparable from too close contact with one's fellow-men.”
― Charles Alexander (Ohiyesa) Eastman, The Soul of the Indian

“The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity. They forget, perhaps, that his religion forbade the accumulation of wealth and the enjoyment of luxury. To him, as to other single-minded men in every age and race, from Diogenes to the brothers of Saint Francis, from the Montanists to the Shakers, the love of possessions has appeared a snare, and the burdens of a complex society a source of needless peril and temptation. Furthermore, it was the rule of his life to share the fruits of his skill and success with his less fortunate brothers.”
― Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian

“I have not cared to pile up more dry bones, but to clothe them with flesh and blood.”
― Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian

“It is simple truth that the Indian did not, so long as his native philosophy held sway over his mind, either envy or desire to imitate the splendid achievements of the white man. In his own thought he rose superior to them!”
― Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian

“The religion of the Indian is the last thing about him that the man of another race will ever understand. First,”
― Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian

“The religion of the Indian is the last thing about him that the man of another race will ever understand. First, the Indian does not speak of these deep matters so long as he believes in them, and when he has ceased to believe he speaks inaccurately and slightingly. Second,”
― Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian

“The worship of the “Great Mystery” was silent, solitary, free from all self-seeking. It was silent, because all speech is of necessity feeble and imperfect; therefore the souls of my ancestors ascended to God in wordless adoration. It was solitary, because they believed that He is nearer to us in solitude, and there were no priests authorized to come between a man and his Maker. None might exhort or confess or in any way meddle with the religious experience of another. Among us all men were created sons of God and stood erect, as conscious of their divinity. Our faith might not be formulated in creeds, nor forced upon any who were unwilling to receive it; hence there was no preaching, proselyting, nor persecution, neither were there any scoffers or atheists.”
― Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian

“Friendship is held to be the severest test of character. It is easy”
― Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian

“It has been said that the position of woman is the test of civilization,”
― Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian

“God! sing ye meadow streams with gladsome voice!
Ye pine-groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds!
Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain storm!
Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds!
Ye signs and wonders of the elements,
Utter forth God, and fill the hills with praise! . . .
Earth, with her thousand voices, praises GOD! COLERIDGE.”
― Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian

“The old men, for their part, do their best to requite his liberality with a little speech, in which they are apt to relate the brave and generous deeds of their host’s ancestors, finally congratulating him upon being a worthy successor of an honorable line.”
― Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian