"If we sell you land, you must remember that it is sacred, and you must teach your children that it is sacred and that the ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells us events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father. The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our cannoes, feed our children. If we sell our land, you must learn, and teach your children, that the rivers are our brothers, and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness you would give any brother."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Spiritual teachersCatholics from the United StatesEnvironmentalists from the United StatesNative AmericansSaints
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chief_Seattle
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Chief Seattle
Chief Seattle (also Sealth, Seathl or See-ahth) (c. 1786 – June 7, 1866) was a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Native American tribes in what is now the U.S. state of Washington.
18 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Chief Seattle →
Related Quotes
"My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain...There was a time when our people cover…"
"At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with t…"
"Every part of all this soil is sacred to my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove has been holl…"
"Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say? There is no death, o…"
"We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for …"
"Tribe follows tribe, nations follow nations like the tides of the sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless."
"Today is fair. Tomorrow may be overcast with clouds. My words are like the stars that never change."
"How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land?"
"Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark…"
"The sap which courses through the trees carries the memory of the red man."