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!’
TECUMSEHI am Shawnee! I am a warrior! My forefathers were warriors. From them I took only my birth into this world.
More Tecumseh Quotes
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The way, and the only way, to stop this evil is for all the red men to unite in claiming a common and equal right in the land, as it was at first, and should be yet; for it was never divided, but belongs to all for the use of each.
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 -
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 -
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
TECUMSEH -
Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pcanet, and other powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and oppression of the white man, as snow before the summer sun.
TECUMSEH -
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
TECUMSEH -
I am a Shawnee. My forefathers were warriors. Their son is a warrior. From them, I take my only existence.
TECUMSEH -
Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.
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 -
The Great Spirit made all things. He gave the white people a home beyond the great waters. He supplied these grounds with game, and gave them to his red children; and he gave them strength and courage to defend them.
TECUMSEH -
I 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.
TECUMSEH -
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
TECUMSEH -
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
TECUMSEH -
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength.
TECUMSEH -
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