"My Grandmother was a Storyteller; She knew her way around Words. She never learned to read and write, but somehow She knew the good of reading and writing; She had learned how to Listen and Delight. She had learned that in Words and in Language, and there only, She could have whole and consummate Being. You see for Her, Words were Medicine. They were Magic and Invisible. They came from Nothing into Sound and Meaning. They were beyond price. They could neither be bought nor sold, and She never threw Words away. She told me Stories and She taught me how to Listen. I was a Child, and I Listened."
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As quoted from House Made of Dawn by Momaday in "N. Scott Momaday: Words From a Bear" 25:57-26:49. American Masters. A documentary.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/N._Scott_Momaday
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N. Scott Momaday
(February 27, 1934 – January 24, 2024) was a novelist, short story writer, essayist and poet. His novel ' was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969, and is considered the first major work of the . His follow-up work ' blended folklore with memoir. Momaday received the National Medal of Arts in 2007 for his work's celebration and preservation of indigenous oral and art traditions. He held twenty honorary degrees from colleges and universities and was a fellow of the American Academy of A
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