--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Before our white brothers arrived to make…" description: "\"“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 had no locks ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/621/lame-deer-98436_civilized-society_before-our-white-brothers-arrived-to-mak_1230814.jpg" --- # Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized… ![“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 had no locks nor keys and 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…” quote by Lame Deer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/621/lame-deer-98436_civilized-society_before-our-white-brothers-arrived-to-mak_1230814.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/621/lame-deer-98436_civilized-society_before-our-white-brothers-arrived-to-mak_1230814.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/621/lame-deer-98436_civilized-society_before-our-white-brothers-arrived-to-mak_1230814.jpg) > ““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 had no locks nor keys and 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 men 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.”” [Lame Deer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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. Pre‑colonial societies lacked formal prisons, money, and laws, which shaped different conceptions of property and justice. **In simple terms:** No prisons, money, or laws existed. Key Takeaway Understand cultural relativism. Themes history indigenous wisdom social structures Mood critical educational Type Civilized society:0 Native american wisdom:1 Private property:0 Necessary Civilized:0 Civilized Men:0 Wealth Written:0 Gift Uncivilized:0 When to use this quote - anthropology class - museum exhibit - policy debate Key Concepts property justice economics Questions to Reflect On - How did communal sharing function? - What lessons apply today? A Different Perspective Romanticizing past can ignore hardships. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilized Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-men-532816/) [Civilized society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/) [Gift Uncivilized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gift-uncivilized-3805363/) [Native american wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/native-american-wisdom/) [Necessary Civilized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/necessary-civilized-313569/) [Private property](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/private-property/) [Wealth Written](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wealth-written-3805362/) ## Related quotes > [“Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didin't have any kind of prison. 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You shall find replacement for those you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ahmad-fuadi/clever-and-civilized-men-will-not-stay-home-leave-your-homeland-and/) [Ahmad Fuadi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ahmad-fuadi/) > [When men are brought face to face with their opponents, forced to listen and learn and mend their ideas, they cease to be children…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-lippmann/when-men-are-brought-face-to-face-with-their-opponents-forced-to/) [Walter Lippmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-lippmann/) > [ “I know that \[civilized men\] do nothing but boast incessantly of the peace and repose they enjoy in their chains… But when I see… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/i-know-that-civilized-men-do-nothing-but-boast-incessantly-of-the/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [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/) > [When you have civilized men fighting savages, you support the civilized men, no matter who they are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/when-you-have-civilized-men-fighting-savages-you-support-the/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## More by Lame Deer > [“All of nature is in me, and a bit of myself is in all of nature.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lame-deer/all-of-nature-is-in-me-and-a-bit-of-myself-is-in-all-of-nature/) [Lame Deer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lame-deer/) [Explore all 2 Lame Deer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lame-deer/) ## More Civilized society quotes > [ That country \[Carthage\] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws;… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinking-into-the-state-of-barbarism/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [Our guiding principle was that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but simply an integral part of the stuff of life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-gropius/our-guiding-principle-was-that-design-is-neither-an-intellectual-nor/) [Walter Gropius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-gropius/) > [“Science lacks something very important that religion provides: a moral code. 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Conversely, cruelty, whether it is directed against human beings or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-chavez/kindness-and-compassion-towards-all-living-things-is-a-mark-of-a/) [Cesar Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-chavez/) > [“Good sex is the basis of any truly civilized society.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gil-a-waters/good-sex-is-the-basis-of-any-truly-civilized-society/) [Gil A. Waters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gil-a-waters/) > [“Before our white brothers came to civilize us we had no jails. Therefore we had no criminals. You can't have criminals without a jail.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lame-deer/before-our-white-brothers-came-to-civilize-us-we-had-no-jails/) [John Lame Deer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lame-deer/) > [“Civilized" society is a hopeful belief and protest that science, money and goods make man count for more than any other animal. In this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/civilized-society-is-a-hopeful-belief-and-protest-that-science-money/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [I feel we all have the obligation, myself. 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