Oren Lyons Quotes

In the absence of the sacred, nothing is sacred - everything is for sale.

The environment isn't over here. The environment isn't over there. You are the environment.

What you people call your natural resources our people call our relatives

Life will go on as long as there is someone to sing, to dance, to tell stories and to listen.

We wonder, how do you instruct seven billion people as to the relationship to the Earth? Because unless they understand that and relate the way they should be, future is pretty dim for the human species.

We say that the faces of coming generations are looking up from the earth. So when you put your feet down, you put them down very carefully - because there are generations coming one after the other. If you think in these terms, then you'll walk a lot more carefully, be more respectful of this earth.

There are two times of the year that stir the blood. In the fall, for the hunt, and now for lacrosse.

Even through you and I are in different boats, you in your boat and we our canoe, we share the same river of life. What befalls me befalls you. And downstream, downstream in this river of life, our children will pay for our selfishness, for our greed, and for our lack of vision.

If you don't have a moral question governing your society, then you don't have a society that is going to survive.

Although we are in different boats you in your boat and we in our canoe we share the same river of life.

I do not see a delegation for the four-footed. I see no seat for the eagles. We forget and we consider ourselves superior.

When you look at where team sports are going, the National Football League is turning into organized warfare.

The young generation can influence their elders and can make them understand the environmental problems that are faced by us today. The youth can make them see that our environment is deteriorating day by day.

What if we choose to eradicate ourselves from this Earth, by whatever means? The Earth goes nowhere. And in time, it will regenerate... There may not be people, but the Earth will regenerate. And you know why? - Because the Earth has all the time in the world and we don't.

If you have a clean environment, you will have a healthy atmosphere. This will make you happy and your happiness will bring joy to your parents and it will affect the community, too. Then there will be peace of mind to one and all.

When you talk about Lacrosse, you talk about the lifeblood of the six nations. The game is ingrained into our culture and our system and our lives. (the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora)

Man sometimes thinks he's been elevated to be the controller, the ruler, but he's not. He's only part of the whole. Man's job is not to exploit, but to oversee, to be a steward. Man has responsibility, not power.

I do not see a delegation for the four-footed. I see no seat for the eagles. We forget and we consider ourselves superior, but we are after all a mere part of the Creation. And we must continue to understand where we are. And we stand between the mountain and the ant, somewhere and there only, as part of the Creation.

We have to do that. We have to be thankful. That's what we said. Two things were told to us: To be thankful, so those are our ceremonies, ceremonies of thanksgiving. We built nations around it, and you can do that, too. And the other thing they said was enjoy life. That's a rule, a law- enjoy life- you're supposed to.

* We can still alter our course. It is NOT too late. We still have options. We need the courage to change our values to the regeneration of our families, the life that surrounds us.

The law says if you poison the water, you’ll die. The law says that if you poison the air, you’ll suffer. The law says if you degrade where you live, you’ll suffer... If you don’t learn that, you can only suffer. There’s no discussion with this law.

All things are bound together, all things connect. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls also the children of the earth.