Russell Means Quotes

I'm more than just a piece in their Games.

We have to wake up. We have to refuse to be a clone.

One doesn't want one's identity coerced.

The most powerful single force in the world today…man’s eternal desire to be free and independent.

We do not want to be anybody's pawns. We are an ancient people. We want our autonomy. We want sarbasti—freedom. I do not know who will take my place one day. But they cannot crush us.

I hold a jail more roomy ... than would be the whole world if I were to submit to repression.

Those of us who submitted or surrendered our ideas and dreams and identities to the 'leaders' must take back our rights, our identities, our responsibilities.

I think there's always a conflict within me about being comfortable and secure and then being an individual and fighting for what I want to be on an individual basis.

Once a man has tasted freedom he will never be content to be a slave.

Fear wins or Freedom wins, and I choose Freedom.

Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may.

I was kind of raised with the suggestion that I had a duty to do; that life was real, life was earnest. And I hated that, actually. I needed to be liberated, to be told that I could live the life that I wanted to live; that I didn't need a job, or to be shouted at; that I could be myself; that I could be happy.

I've always done everything at my disposal to avoid labeling what I do, or to avoid being labeled myself.

Don't change for nobody.

I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine.

I wanted to use my possibility to be an individual, and I suppose I have, no?

I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want.

I have an aversion to being mislabeled. Here's a label I'd accept: I'm an 'individual.' I'm someone who can't follow, and doesn't want to lead.

If you let society and your peers define who you are, you're the less for it.

I didn't want people to decide what I was going to wear and what I was going to look like and how I should behave.

Having children, they're not your property. They need to figure out their own views. I think my daughters have a pretty healthy self-awareness, but I can't speak on their behalf.

I know that many people kill off their real personality just to fit into this society, but why do we have to compromise? I never understood that. I decided to try to be myself and to live by my own values rather than those of others.

When liberty returns, I will return.

I try to not focus on what people expect from me.

You can be a thousand different women. It's your choice which one you want to be. It's about freedom and sovereignty. You celebrate who you are. You say, 'This is my kingdom.'