"The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers; he belongs just as the buffalo belonged." — Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux chief

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"You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a cricle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. [...] The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greater power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. [...] Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves." — Black Elk, Oglala Sioux holy man