John Fusco Quotes

In the ancient times, bards went around singing the epics, which were storehouses of philosophy.

Twelve years ago, when I was on the Pine Ridge Reservation for 'Thunderheart,' I was dong research into Native American horses that had come into extinction. I was tracing certain Lakota bloodlines, and it became an obsession.

My people have called upon me to speak to you. The red man has no books, and when he wishes to make known his views...like his father before him...he speaks with his mouth. He is afraid of writing. When he speaks he knows what he says; the Great Spirit hears him. Writing is the invention of the pale faces;

Most of our history has been recorded orally. Among us Cherokee people we used to have people who were trained to listen at all meetings and then pass it on.

History: Gossip well told.

In spite of our agonizing history, Native American people find much to celebrate. The songs, the dances, the culture and traditions surrounding planting and harvests, the prayers that are sent upward for healing and peace, and the welcoming of children into our families, are all reasons for us to keep moving forward with optimism.

The earliest voice listened to by the nations in their infancy was the voice of the storyteller.

All history was at first oral.

For people who are coming out of an oral tradition, it is very exciting to get into reading and writing and it is quite interesting how frequently people want to write their own story. Sometimes it is straight history - this is how we came about, how our town was created, a lot of that kind of effort, as soon as literacy came. The first thing you wanted to do was to put something down about who you are or how you are related to you neighbors. Then the next stage would be the stories, the cultural part of the story: this is the kind of world our ancestors made or aspired to.

Storytelling is the oldest form of education.

The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or woman.

The history of this country is told by showing people who have contributed to it.

We're trying to let people see what their grandfather told them about.

If there was a day that history was not recorded, then the history of one hundred days would be in peril.

History is not just a story related by a fool.

A people without a history is like the wind over buffalo grass.

When you go back and look at the history of anything, it’s always the records of the elite that survive.

Universal history is the history of a few metaphors.

Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country; he should lisp the praise of liberty and of those illustrious heroes and statesmen who have wrought a revolution in her favor.

History is written not only for posterity but by posterity as well.

A good history covers not only what was done, but the thought that went into the action. You can read the history of a country through its actions.

History is a novel whose author is the people.

History is nothing but assisted and recorded memory. It might almost be said to be no science at all

History is merely gossip.

The history of a nation is not in Parliaments and battlefields but in what people say to each other on fair days and high days, and in how they farm and quarrel and go on pilgrimage.