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You must teach the 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 Misattributed

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At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled them and still love this beautiful land. The white man will never be alone.

Statement on surrendering tribal lands to Isaac Stevens, governor of Washington Territory (1855)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Chief Seattle (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.