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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that one should treat others with justice and kindness, as the influence of the deceased continues to shape the living.
Chief Seattle's quote emphasizes the importance of justice and compassion towards others, particularly in relation to how we honor those who have passed away. It suggests that death is not an end but a transformation, indicating that the spirits of the deceased remain influential in the lives of the living, urging us to maintain respect and a sense of responsibility towards them and the community.
Themes
JusticeKindnessDeathChangeWorlds
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a memorial speech to emphasize the ongoing impact of loved ones who have passed.
More from Chief Seattle
All quotes →We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children
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.
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
There is a growing movement called effective altruism. It's important because it combines both the heart and the head.
Peter SingerRead
I am thankful to the Nobel committee for recognising the plight of millions of children who are suffering in this modern age.
Kailash SatyarthiRead
History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology.
W. H. AudenRead
Let's face a historical truth: we have never had a "free market", we have always had government intervention in the economy, and indeed that intervention has been welcomed by the captains of finance and industry. They had no quarrel with "big government" when it served their needs.
Howard ZinnRead
Being able to live without having to be defined by your skin color is the hallmark of privilege.
Luvvie AjayiRead
I feel closer ties and more intimate bonds with certain characters in books, with certain images I’ve seen in engravings, than with many supposedly real people with the metaphysical absurdity known as ‘flesh and blood’. In fact, ‘flesh and blood’ describes them very well: they resemble cuts of meat laid out on the butcher’s marble slab, dead creatures bleeding as though still alive.
Fernando PessoaRead