Sioux Indians

Sioux Proverbs

Frogs don’t drink up all the water in the ponds they live in.

Inner peace and love are God’s greatest gifts.

Be self-loving—go outside yourself and take action. Be peaceful, and be focused on the solution.

Sioux Quotes

Chief Sitting Bull (1831-1890) Leader and medicine man

The earth has received the sun’s hug, and we shall see the results of that love.

I was eager to learn and to do things, and thus I learned quickly.

If a man loses anything and goes back and carefully looks for it, he will find it.


Crazy Horse (1842-1877) Determined and fierce warrior and leader

All we wanted was peace and to be let alone


Wovoka (a.k.a. the Cutter) (1858-1932) Religious figure of Sioux and other tribes

Always do right. It will give you satisfaction in life.


Ohiyesa a.k.a. Charles Alexander Eastman (1858-1939) Physician and writer

The man who preserves his selfhood is ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence.

Silence is the cornerstone of character.

Friendship is held to be the severest test of character.

It has been said that the position of woman is the test of civilization, and that of our women was secure. In them was vested our standard of morals and the purity of our blood. [For the Native American,] The wife did not take the name of her husband nor enter his clan, and the children belonged to the clan of the mother. All of the family property was held by her, descent was traced in the maternal line, and the honor of the house was in her hands…

Thus she ruled undisputed within her own domain, and was to us a tower of moral and spiritual strength… [Before the arrival of the “white man,”] you could not find anywhere a happier home than that created by the Indian woman. There was nothing of the artificial about her person, and very little disingenuousness in her character.

Native American Wisdom

The Sioux (pronounced Soo) used to live in the Northern Plains of North America. They were renowned for their fighting ability. In 1876, they refused US government orders to enter a reservation, which caused a group of US troops to attack them. Although the Sioux lacked the technology and resources available to the US troops, they emphatically defeated and devastated them in what later became known as “(US Lieutenant Colonel George A.) Custer’s Last Stand.”

US Army troops later came in and forced the Sioux to enter the reservation. But shortly later, some Sioux refused, which eventually led to the Sioux Wars.

Today, many of the 40,000 current day Sioux live on reservations in the northern plains, while others live in various US urban areas, and a few thousand live in Canada.

The Sioux (also known as the Dakota) are usually categorized into three groups: Santee (Dakota), Yankton (Nakota), and Teton (Lakota).