Ohiyesa wrote: The First American mingled with his pride a singular humility. Spiritual arrogance was foreign to his nature and teaching. He never claimed that his power of articulate speech was proof of superiority over "dumb creation"; on the other hand, speech is to him a perilous gift.
He believes profoundly in silence -the sign of the perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit.
The man who preserves his selfhood ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence - not a leaf, as it were,astir on the tree, not a ripple upon the surface of the shining poo - his, in the mind of the unlettered sage, is the ideal attitude and conduct of life . . .
Silence is the cornerstone of character.
Ohiyesa (1858-1939) was a Santee Sioux who was given the Christian name Charles Alexander Eastman.
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