What is man without the beasts? For if all the beast were gone, man would die of a great loneliness of the spirit.
Chief SeattleRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the interconnectedness of all living things and the importance of treating nature with respect and kindness.
Chief Seattle's quote eloquently expresses the profound relationship between humans and the natural world. He illustrates the idea that everything in nature is interlinked, akin to familial bonds, where rivers are personified as brothers that sustain life, provide resources, and deserve gratitude and respect in return for their contributions to human existence. It highlights the urgent need for stewardship and a harmonious relationship with the environment.
Themes
InterconnectednessNatureRespectRiversFamilyKindness
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental conservation, one might quote this to underscore the importance of caring for our planet.
More from Chief Seattle
All quotes →We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children
Chief SeattleRead
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 SeattleRead
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 SeattleRead
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 SeattleRead
The whites, too, shall pass - perhaps sooner than other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.
Chief SeattleRead
Similar quotes
Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species -- man -- acquired significant power to alter the nature of the world.
Rachel CarsonRead
Nature is our eldest mother; she will do no harm.
Emily DickinsonRead
This is what I have heard at last the wind in December lashing the old trees with rain unseen rain racing along the tiles under the moon wind rising and falling wind with many clouds trees in the night wind.
W. S. MerwinRead
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
Rabindranath TagoreRead
It's essential that we understand that taking care of the planet will be done as we take care of ourselves. You know that you can't really make much of a difference in things until you change yourself.
Alice WalkerRead
We are on the precipice of climate system tipping points beyond which there is no redemption.
James HansenRead