“And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell, and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner, the shapes of things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.” —Black Elk

“Romanticizing the past” is a familiar accusation, made mostly by people who think it is more grown-up to romanticize the future.” —Paul Kingsnorth

“Suppose that a scientist wants to understand nature. He may begin by studying a leaf, but as his investigation progresses, down to the level of molecules, atoms, and the elementary particles, he loses all sight of the original leaf…Which is to say that research attempts to find meaning in something from which it has wrested all meaning.” —Masanobu Fukuoka

“The world is not an unsolved problem for scientists or sociologists. The world is a living mystery: our birth, our death, our being in the moment – these are mysteries. They are doorways opening on to unimaginable vistas of self-exploration, empowerment and hope for the human enterprise.” —Terence McKenna

“What the people aspire to is often power, rather than spiritual communion, and this is measured in Western terms, so that money and power become the new gods.” —Ross Heaven

“We do not want schools….they will teach us to have churches. We do not want churches…. they will teach us to quarrel about God. We do not want to learn that. We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on this earth, but we never quarrel about God.” —Heinmot Tooyalaket ( Chief Joseph), Nez Perce Leader

“How can it be, in an egalitarian society, that injustice to the marginalized creates scarcely a ripple? The answer I think is found at the threshold: most Australians do not recognize the original inhabitants, the stolen generations, the faceless asylum seekers, as people: at least, not in the same sense that we are people. Their humanity is of a different order…”—Julian Burnside

“Let us embrace the societies and the peoples of the East and of the West and together build upon a new world of peace and respect towards one another.” —Basilio Quispe, indigenous Aymara elder

“What strikes me as most interesting about Native culture is not that there’s a certain way of doing things but that there’s a process in place that allows things to happen, allows a lot of things to become new and grow and become much more than what they anticipated they could become. The process. It’s more important than the end product.” —Roger Buffalohead

When you are in doubt, be still, and wait; when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage. So long as mists envelop you, be still; be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists—as it surely will. Then act with courage. —Ponca Chief White Eagle

“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” – Lila Watson, Queensland Aboriginal activist

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall—think of it, always.” – Mohandas K. Gandhi

“In the midst of global crises such as pollution, wars and famine, kindness may be too easily dismissed as a ‘soft’ issue, or a luxury to be addressed after the urgent problems are solved. But kindness is the greatest need in all those areas—kindness toward the environment, toward other nations, toward the needs of people who are suffering. Until we reflect basic kindness in everything we do, our political gestures will be fleeting and fragile. Simple kindness may be the most vital key to the riddle of how human beings can live with each other in peace, and care properly for this planet we all share.” —Bo Lozoff

“America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking.” —Wilma Mankiller

“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.” —Rumi