--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Before our white brothers arrived to make…" description: "\"“Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didin't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we didn't have any delinquents. Witho..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f83/john-fire-lame-deer-2-68287_civilization_before-our-white-brothers-arrived-to-mak_1526990.jpg" --- # Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized… ![“Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didin't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we didn't have any delinquents. Without a prison, there can't be no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys therefore among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he…” quote by John (Fire) Lame Deer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f83/john-fire-lame-deer-2-68287_civilization_before-our-white-brothers-arrived-to-mak_1526990.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f83/john-fire-lame-deer-2-68287_civilization_before-our-white-brothers-arrived-to-mak_1526990.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f83/john-fire-lame-deer-2-68287_civilization_before-our-white-brothers-arrived-to-mak_1526990.jpg) > ““Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didin't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we didn't have any delinquents. Without a prison, there can't be no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys therefore among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift. We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property. We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth. We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians, therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another. We were really in bad shape before the white man arrived and I don't know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.”” John (Fire) Lame Deer ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker argues that pre‑colonial Indigenous societies lacked prisons, property concepts, and formal laws, suggesting they were not dependent on these institutions for order or value. **In simple terms:** Indigenous peoples lived without prisons, money, or private property, yet functioned as a society. Key Takeaway Recognize diverse social structures beyond Western norms. Themes culture colonialism law property civilization Mood reflective critical Type historical anthropological When to use this quote - anthropology research - policy debates - education curricula - community building Key Concepts Anarchism communalism indigenous epistemology Questions to Reflect On - How did conflict resolution work without formal law? - What are the risks of idealizing pre‑colonial societies? A Different Perspective The claim may romanticize or oversimplify complex social dynamics and ignore internal conflicts. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Civilized society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/) [Private property](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/private-property/) [White man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/white-man/) ## Related quotes > [“Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men,we didn't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lame-deer/before-our-white-brothers-arrived-to-make-us-civilized-men-we-didn-t/) Lame Deer > [“The form of family corresponding to civilization and coming to definite supremacy with it is monogamy, the domination of the man over the woman,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-engels/the-form-of-family-corresponding-to-civilization-and-coming-to/) [Frederick Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-engels/) > [I've worked in the prison system for five years, and most of those folks in prison didn't have a direction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stedman-graham/i-ve-worked-in-the-prison-system-for-five-years-and-most-of-those/) [Stedman Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stedman-graham/) > [When I was released from prison, I didn't want to leave my house for the first three months.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-walters/when-i-was-released-from-prison-i-didn-t-want-to-leave-my-house-for/) [Ashley Walters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley-walters/) > [During the first day, curious at having outsiders among them, a long stream of inmates came over and talked with me. 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He had a lot of fans in there.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-hill/prison-didn-t-frighten-him-especially-he-had-a-lot-of-fans-in-there/) [Joe Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-hill/) > [Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-e-howard/civilized-men-are-more-discourteous-than-savages-because-they-know/) [Robert E. Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-e-howard/) > [The right most valued by all civilized men is the right to be left alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-d-brandeis/the-right-most-valued-by-all-civilized-men-is-the-right-to-be-left/) [Louis D. Brandeis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-d-brandeis/) > [Until we begin to discover the national values that for centuries have allowed us to rise above our natures and act as civilized men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-delay/until-we-begin-to-discover-the-national-values-that-for-centuries/) [Tom DeLay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-delay/) > [“Modern civilization has become so complex and the lives of civilized men so interwoven with the lives of other men in other countries as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-d-roosevelt/modern-civilization-has-become-so-complex-and-the-lives-of-civilized/) [Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-d-roosevelt/) > [...men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilized, are there to guard and feed them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/men-can-only-be-highly-civilized-while-other-men-inevitably-less/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“That's the way with civilized men. When they can't explain something by their half-baked science, they refuse to believe it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-e-howard/that-s-the-way-with-civilized-men-when-they-can-t-explain-something/) [Robert E. Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-e-howard/) > [“This is said to civilized men who are to venture into countries where sacred cows are fed, while children are left to starve -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/this-is-said-to-civilized-men-who-are-to-venture-into-countries-where/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## More by John (Fire) Lame Deer > [“All Creatures exist for a purpose. Even an ant knows what that purpose is--not with its brain, but somehow it knows. Only human beings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fire-lame-deer-2/all-creatures-exist-for-a-purpose-even-an-ant-knows-what-that-purpose/) John (Fire) Lame Deer > [“We make bear sounds, talk bear language when we are in a fighting mood. "Harrnh"--and you are as good as gone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fire-lame-deer-2/we-make-bear-sounds-talk-bear-language-when-we-are-in-a-fighting-mood/) John (Fire) Lame Deer > [“Listen to the air. You can hear it, feel it, smell it, taste it. Woniya wakan—the holy air—which renews all by its breath. Woniya,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fire-lame-deer-2/listen-to-the-air-you-can-hear-it-feel-it-smell-it-taste-it-woniya/) John (Fire) Lame Deer Explore all 4 John (Fire) Lame Deer quotes ## More Civilization quotes > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Sentiment is the mightiest force in civilization; not sentimentality, but sentiment. Women will bring this into politics. 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It is impossible that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-josiah-brewer/our-laws-and-our-institutions-must-necessarily-be-based-upon-and/) [David Josiah Brewer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-josiah-brewer/) [Browse all 4,084 Civilization quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didin't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we didn't have any delinquents. Without a prison, there can't be no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys therefore among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift. We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property. We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth. 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