Quotes from Chief Seattle

What is man without the beasts? For if all the beast were gone, man would die of a great loneliness of the spirit.

Take only memories, leave only footprints.

Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realise that we can not eat money.

All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man... the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.

Our religion is the traditions of our ancestors - the dreams of our old men, given them in solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit; and the visions of our sachems, and is written in the hearts of our people.

My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain.

Youth is impulsive. When our young men grow angry at some real or imaginary wrong, and disfigure their faces with black paint, it denotes that their hearts are black, and that they are often cruel and relentless, and our old men and old women are unable to restrain them. Thus it has ever been.

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children

Man belongs to the Earth, Earth does not belong to man

The white man's God cannot love our people or He would protect them. They seem to be orphans who can look nowhere for help. How then can we be brothers?

The earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.

What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit

We are all children of the Great Spirit, we all belong to Mother Earth. Our planet is in great trouble and if we keep carrying old grudges and do not work together, we will all die.

If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth.

The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath-the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench.

Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. We did not weave the web of life We are merely a strand in it. What we do with the web, we do to ourselves...

My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain...There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory.

All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man. The air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.

When the green hills are covered with talking wires and the wolves no longer sing, what good will the money you paid for our land be then

Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

When the Earth is sick, the animals will begin to disappear, when that happens, The Warriors of the Rainbow will come to save them.

Like a man who has been dying for many days, a man in your city is numb to the stench.

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.

What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.