The Great Spirit will not make me suffer because I am ignorant. He will put me in a place where I shall be better off than in this world.
Red CloudRead
I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Material wealth is less important than nurturing our values and relationships.
In this quote, Red Cloud emphasizes that true wealth lies not in material possessions but in the moral upbringing of future generations. He suggests that the pursuit of riches is futile compared to the lasting value of peace, love, and proper education for children, which ultimately leads to a more fulfilling life.
Themes
WealthEducationPeaceLoveValuesChildrenHappiness
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of family values over material wealth.
More from Red Cloud
All quotes →When I was a young man, I was poor. In a war with other nations, I was in eighty-seven fights. There I received my name and was made Chief of my nation. But now I am old and am for peace.
Red CloudRead
We were told that they wished merely to pass through our country. . . to seek for gold in the far west . . . Yet before the ashes of the council are cold, the Great Father is building his forts among us. . . . His presence here is . . . an insult to the spirits of our ancestors. Are we then to give up their sacred graves to be allowed for corn?
Red CloudRead
Look at me. I was a warrior on this land where the sun rises, now I come from where the sun sets. Whose voice was first surrounded on this land - the red people with bows and arrows. The Great Father says he is good and kind to us. I can't see it.
Red CloudRead
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