"We come here...speaking the truth on behalf of people, of the world, of the four-footed, of the winged, of the fish that swim. Someone must speak for them. I do not see a delegation for the four-footed. I see no seat for the eagles...We forget and we consider ourselves superior, but we are after all a mere part of the Creation. And we must continue to understand where we are. And we stand between the mountain and the ant, somewhere and only there, as part and parcel of the Creation...It is our responsibility, since we have been given the minds to take care of these things. The elements and the animals, and the birds, they live in a state of grace. They are absolute, they can do no wrong. It is only we, the two-leggeds, that can do this."
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Speech at United Nations conference in Geneva, Switzerland (1977). Included in Native American Reader: Stories, Speeches and Poems edited by Jerry D. Blanche
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oren_Lyons
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Oren Lyons
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