The root of oppression is the loss of memory.

Indians think it is important to remember, while Americans believe it is important to forget.

Human beings need to belong to a tradition and equally need to know about the world in which they find themselves.

We are the land. To the best of my understanding, that is the fundamental idea that permeates American Indian life.

Snowflakes, leaves, humans, plants, raindrops, stars, molecules, microscopic entities all come in communities. The singular cannot in reality exist.

Healing the self means committing ourselves to a wholehearted willingness to be what and how we are-beings frail and fragile, strong and passionate, neurotic and balanced, diseased and whole, partial and complete, stingy and generous, twisted and straight, storm-tossed and quiescent, bound and free.

... America has amnesia. ... Certainly, there is a passion for memory loss in American thought. ... Americans may be the world champion forgetters.