Chief Seattle Quotes & Sayings

Our people are ebbing away like a rapidly receding tide that will never return. The white man's God cannot love our people, or He would protect them. — Chief Seattle

There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring, or the rustle of an insect's wings. But perhaps it is because I am a savage and do not understand. The clatter only seems to insult the ears. — Chief Seattle

The white man's dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful Earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the Earth and it is part of us. — Chief Seattle

The deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony and man - all belong to the same family ... The White Man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers. — Chief Seattle

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 — Chief Seattle

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. — Chief Seattle

Take only memories, leave only footprints. — Chief Seattle

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of the Earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clear and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people.The perfumed flowers are our sisters, the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and the man, all belong to the same family. — Chief Seattle

The white man will never be alone. Let him be just, and deal kindly with my people. For the dead are not powerless. — Chief Seattle

All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth, befalls the children of the Earth. — Chief Seattle

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. — Chief Seattle

The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father. — Chief Seattle

We do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water. How can you buy them from us? — Chief Seattle

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

Whatever Seattle says, the great chief at Washington can rely upon with as much certainty as he can upon the return of the sun or the seasons. — Chief Seattle

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. — Chief Seattle

To us, the ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their resting place is hallowed ground. — Chief Seattle

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

Take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints! — Chief Seattle

My words are like the stars that never change. — Chief Seattle

This we know, the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. So hold in your mind the memory on the land as it is when you take it. And, with all your strength, with all your mind, and with all your heart ... — Chief Seattle

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

Our God, the Great Spirit, seems also to have forsaken us. Your God makes your people wax stronger every day. Soon they will fill all the land. — Chief Seattle

I will not dwell on, nor mourn over, our untimely decay, nor reproach my paleface brothers with hastening it, as we too may have been somewhat to blame. — Chief Seattle

We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. — Chief Seattle

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. — Chief Seattle

Your God loves your people and hates mine; he folds his strong arms lovingly around the white man and leads him as a father leads his infant son, but he has forsaken his red children; he makes your people wax strong every day, and soon they will fill the land; while my people are ebbing away like a fast-receding tide, that will never flow again. The white man's God cannot love his red children or he would protect them. They seem to be orphans who can look nowhere for help. — Chief Seattle

The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of the pond, the smell of the wind itself cleansed by a midday rain, or scented with pinon pine. The air is precious to the red man, for all things are the same breath - the animals, the trees, the man. — Chief Seattle

Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. — Chief Seattle

All creation is one. What we do to one, we do to the entire web of life. — Chief Seattle

Day and night cannot dwell together. The Red Man has ever fled the approach of the White Man, as the morning mist flees before the morning sun. — Chief Seattle

Contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. — Chief Seattle

Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation, like the waves of the sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. — Chief Seattle

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. 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. One thing we know: our god is also your god. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator. — Chief Seattle

Revenge by young men is considered gain, even at the cost of their own lives, but old men who stay at home in times of war, and mothers who have sons to lose, know better. — Chief Seattle

If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? — Chief Seattle

Your God is not our God! Your God loves your people and hates mine! He folds his strong protecting arms lovingly about the paleface and leads him by the hand as a father leads an infant son. — 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. — Chief Seattle

What is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around the pool at night? — Chief Seattle

Your religion was written on tablets of stone, ours on our hearts. 8. We are part of the earth and the earth is part of us. — Chief Seattle

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

There is no such place as away. — Chief Seattle

Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. — Chief Seattle

All things are connected, like the blood that runs in your family "The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father." 1854 The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. You must give to the rivers the kindness you would give to any brother. — Chief Seattle

We are part of the earth and it is part of us ... What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. — Chief Seattle

The whites, too, shall pass - perhaps sooner than other tribes. Continue to contaminate your own bed, and you might suffocate in your own waste. — Chief Seattle

Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say? There is no death, only change of worlds. — Chief Seattle

This We Know. All Things Are Connected — Chief Seattle

You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. — Chief Seattle

There is no death, only a change of worlds. — Chief Seattle

We are a part of the earth and it is part of us. — Chief Seattle

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. — Chief Seattle

Man belongs to the Earth, Earth does not belong to man — Chief Seattle

How can your God become our God and renew our prosperity and awaken in us dreams of returning greatness? — Chief Seattle

Humans merely share the earth. We can only protect the land, not own it. — Chief Seattle

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. — Chief Seattle

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? — Chief Seattle

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. — Chief Seattle