We gave them forest-clad mountains and valleys full of game, and in return what did they give our warriors and our women? Rum, trinkets, and a grave.
TECUMSEHI am the maker of my own fortune, and Oh! that I could make that of my Red People, and of my country, as great as the conceptions of my mind, when I think of the spirit that rules the universe.
More Tecumseh Quotes
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I would not then come to Governor Harrison to ask him to tear up the treaty, and to obliterate the landmark, but I would say to him, “Sir, you have the liberty to return to your own country.”
TECUMSEH -
From my tribe I take nothing. I am the maker of my own destiny! And of that I might make the destiny of my red people, of our nation, as great as I conceive to in my mind, when I think of Weshemoneto, who rules this universe!
TECUMSEH -
Brothers, the white people are like poisonous serpents: when chilled they are feeble and harmless, but invigorate them with warmth and they sting their benefactors to death.
TECUMSEH -
The way, the only way to stop this evil is for the red man to unite in claiming a common and equal right in the land, as it was first, and should be now, for it was never divided.”
TECUMSEH -
So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
TECUMSEH -
Let us form one body, one heart, and defend to the last warrior our country, our homes, our liberty, and the graves of our fathers.
TECUMSEH -
When Jesus Christ came upon the Earth, you killed Him. The son of your own God. And only after He was dead did you worship Him and start killing those who would not.
TECUMSEH -
Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Didn’t the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?
TECUMSEH -
Brothers, we must be united; we must smoke the same pipe; we must fight each other’s battles; and more than all, we must love the Great Spirit.
TECUMSEH -
Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pokanoket, and many other once powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the White Man, as snow before a summer sun.
TECUMSEH -
Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view and demand that they respect yours.
TECUMSEH -
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
TECUMSEH -
Will we let ourselves be destroyed in our turn without a struggle, give up our homes, our country bequeathed to us by the Great Spirit, the graves of our dead and everything that is dear and sacred to us? I know you will cry with me, ‘Never! Never!’
TECUMSEH -
Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.
TECUMSEH -
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.
TECUMSEH