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Perhaps you have noticed that even in the slightest breeze you can hear the voice of the cottonwood tree; this we understand is its prayer to the Great Spirit, for not only men, but all things and all beings pray to Him continually in different ways.

— Black Elk The Sacred Pipe (1953)

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More quotes by Black Elk

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.

The Sacred Pipe (1953)

The power of a thing or an act is in the meaning and the understanding.'

The Sacred Pipe (1953)

All the things of the universe are joined with you who smoke the pipe — All send their voices to Wakan-Tanka, the Great Spirit. When you pray with this pipe, you pray for and with everything.

The Sacred Pipe (1953)

This center which is here, but which we know is really everywhere, is Wakan-Tanka.'

The Sacred Pipe (1953)

Of all the created things or beings in the universe, it is the two-legged men alone, who if they purify and humiliate themselves, may become one with — or may know — Wakan-Tanka.

The Sacred Pipe (1953)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Black Elk (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.