“Americans divide Indians into two categories: the noble savage and the howling savage.”

— Paula Gunn Allen, The Sacred Hoop (1986)

About Paula Gunn Allen

Laguna Pueblo and Sioux poet, scholar and novelist, author of 'The Sacred Hoop' (1986).

“Acceptance is the better part of grief.”

“Isn't it time we realized the absurdity of calling a tiny brook a mainstream, consigning the great river to marginality?”

“Walden is the self-proclaimed triumph of the isolated, superior individual.”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”