Wilma Mankiller Quotes

Friends describe me as someone who likes to sing and dance along the edge of the roof. I try to encourage young women to be willing to take risks, to stand up for the things they believe in, and to step up and accept the challenge of serving in leadership roles.

Wilma Mankiller

• Believe
• Risk
• Challenges

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Quotes to Explore

• I hope many of you will be people that question why things are and why we have to do them the way we have always done them. I hope you will take some risks, exert some real leadership on issues, and if you will, dance along the edge of the roof as you continue for life.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • People
  • Real
  • Risk

• Whoever controls the education of our children controls the future.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Children

• Recognizing the good, not just in one's own personal circumstances, but in the world, makes anything possible. When I am asked about the important characteristics of leadership, being of good, positive mind is at the top of my list. If a leader can focus on the meritorious characteristics of other people and try to play to their strengths as well as find value in even the most difficult situation, she can inspire hope and faith in others and motivate them to move forward.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Characteristics
  • Lists

• I've run into more discrimination as a woman than as an Indian.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Running
  • Discrimination
  • Indian

• Prior to my election, young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Election
  • Cherokee

• An Indian is an Indian regardless of the degree of Indian blood or which little government card they do or do not possess.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Blood
  • Degrees
  • Cards

• In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • People
  • Women
  • History

• A lot of young girls have looked to their career paths and have said they'd like to be chief. There's been a change in the limits people see.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Girl
  • Path
  • Careers

• I learned a long time ago that I can't control the challenges the creator sends my way, but I can control the way I think about them and deal with them

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Thinking
  • Long

• The happiest people I've ever met, regardless of their profession, their social standing, or their economic status, are people that are fully engaged in the world around them. The most fulfilled people are the ones who get up every morning and stand for something larger than themselves. They are the people who care about others, who will extend a helping hand to someone in need or will speak up about an injustice when they see it.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • People
  • Morning
  • Care

• Everybody is sitting around saying, 'Well, jeez, we need somebody to solve this problem of bias.' That somebody is us. We all have to try to figure out a better way to get along.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Trying
  • Problem
  • Bias

• Individually and collectively, Cherokee people possess an extraordinary ability to face down adversity and continue moving forward.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • People
  • Moving
  • Ability

• Every single person has leadership ability. Some step up and take them. Some don't. My answer was to step up and lead.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Persons
  • Answers
  • Steps

• It should be remembered that hundreds of people of African ancestry also walked the Trail of Tears with the Cherokee during the forced removal of 1838-1839. Although we know about the terrible human suffering of our native people and the members of other tribes during the removal, we rarely hear of those black people who also suffered.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • People
  • Black
  • Suffering

• If you argue with a fool, someone passing by will not be able to tell who is the fool and who is not.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Fool
  • Able
  • Arguing

• Women in leadership roles can help restore balance and wholeness to our communities.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Community
  • Balance
  • Helping

• Take care how you place your moccasins upon the Earth, step with care, for the faces of the future generations are looking up from the Earth waiting their turn for life.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Earth
  • Waiting
  • Environmental

• Growth is a painful process. If we’re ever going to collectively begin to grapple with the problems that we have collectively, we’re going to have to move back the veil and deal with each other on a more human level.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Problem
  • Moving
  • Growth

• It's like everybody's sitting there and they have some kind of veil over their face, and they look at each other through this veil that makes them see each other through some stereotypical kind of viewpoint. If we're ever gonna collectively begin to grapple with the problems that we have collectively, we're gonna have to move back the veil and deal with each other on a more human level.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Kind
  • Moving
  • Diversity

• The secret of our success is that we never, never give up.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Success
  • inspirational

• I don't think anybody anywhere can talk about the future of their people or of an organization without talking about education. Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Children
  • Future
  • Education

• Western movies always seemed to show Indian women washing clothes at the creek and men with a tomahawk or spear in their hands, adorned with lots of feathers. That image has stayed in some people's minds. Many think we're either visionaries, `noble savages,' squaw drudges or tragic alcoholics. We're very rarely depicted as real people who have greater tenacity in terms of trying to hang on to our culture and values system than most people.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Men
  • Thinking
  • Real

• People say that crisis changes people and turns ordinary people into wiser or more responsible ones.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Responsible
  • Crisis
  • Wiser

• We must trust our own thinking. Trust where we're going. And get the job done.

  

  Wilma Mankiller
  • Thinking
  • Done
  • Trust