Sitting Bull

I was born on the prairie where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures and everything drew a free breath. I want to die there and not within walls.

The red man's history is written in the blood of his enemies.

My heart is red. My blood is red. My spirit is red.

The white man has a religion. We have a spirituality. There is a difference.

I will not go on the reservation. I will not be a prisoner. I will not be a slave.

The white man comes to us with a smile on his face and a knife behind his back.

My voice is the voice of my people. My words are the words of my people.

Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.

The life my people want is a life of freedom.

I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle.

They claim this mother of ours, the Earth, for their own and fence their neighbors away.

I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place.

When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world. The sun rose and set on their land.

I hate all White people.

You are fools to make yourselves slaves to a piece of fat bacon, some hard-tack, and a little sugar and coffee.

If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, and in my heart he put other and different desires. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows.

You come here to tell us lies, but we don't want to hear them. If we told you more, you would have paid no attention. That is all I have to say.

I do not wish to be shut up in a corral. All agency Indians I have seen are worthless. They are neither red warriors nor white farmers.

My heart is red and sweet, and I know it is sweet, because whatever passes near me puts out its tongue to me.

If you think I am a fool you are a bigger fool than I am.