--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: No tribe has the right to sell, even to…" description: "\"No tribe has the right to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers… Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ef/tecumseh-16912_air_no-tribe-has-the-right-to-sell-even-to-e_764765.jpg" --- # No tribe has the right to sell, even to each other, much… ![“No tribe has the right to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers… 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? The way, the only way to stop this evil is for the red man to unite in claiming…” quote by Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ef/tecumseh-16912_air_no-tribe-has-the-right-to-sell-even-to-e_764765.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ef/tecumseh-16912_air_no-tribe-has-the-right-to-sell-even-to-e_764765.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ef/tecumseh-16912_air_no-tribe-has-the-right-to-sell-even-to-e_764765.jpg) > “No tribe has the right to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers… 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? 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." 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.” [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote condemns the commodification of land and resources, urging Indigenous unity to reclaim ancestral rights. **In simple terms:** Selling land is wrong; unite to protect it. Key Takeaway Support Indigenous sovereignty and land stewardship. Themes environment justice colonialism Mood urgent determined Type activist historical When to use this quote - land negotiations - policy advocacy - community organizing Key Concepts sovereignty collective action resource rights Questions to Reflect On - How can diverse groups collaborate on land rights? - What modern policies reflect this injustice? A Different Perspective Complex political realities may hinder unified action. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Air](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/air/) [America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Common](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/common/) [Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country/) [Country Sell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country-sell-3680087/) [Divided](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/divided/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Equal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/equal/) [Equal rights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/equal-rights/) [Equality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/equality/) [Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Forests](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forests/) [Games](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/games/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Graves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/graves/) [Great spirit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-spirit/) [Land](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/land/) [Land Divided](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/land-divided-2482789/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Mountain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mountain/) [Mountains and valleys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mountains-and-valleys/) [Native](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/native/) [Native american](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/native-american/) [Red](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/red/) [Return](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/return/) [Right Land](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-land-1118258/) [Rights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rights/) [Rum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rum/) [Sea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sea/) [Sell Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sell-country-3997543/) [Selling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/selling/) [Sells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sells/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Spirit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirit/) [States](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/states/) [Stopping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stopping/) [Stranger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stranger/) [Tribe Right](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tribe-right-5907685/) [Tribes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tribes/) [Trinkets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trinkets/) [Unity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unity/) [Usa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/usa/) [Use](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/use/) [Valleys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/valleys/) [Warrior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/warrior/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) [Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wells/) [Why not](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/why-not/) [Wise words](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wise-words/) ## Related quotes > [Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the clouds and the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/sell-a-country-why-not-sell-the-air-the-clouds-and-the-great-sea-as/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [Sell a country?! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/sell-a-country-why-not-sell-the-air-the-great-sea-as-well-as-the/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [The way, and the only way, to stop this evil is for all the red men to unite in claiming a common and equal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/the-way-and-the-only-way-to-stop-this-evil-is-for-all-the-red-men-to/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [The white people have no right to take the land from the Indians, because the Indians had it first.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/the-white-people-have-no-right-to-take-the-land-from-the-indians/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [Everybody wants to protect their own tribe, whether they are right or wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-barkley/everybody-wants-to-protect-their-own-tribe-whether-they-are-right-or/) [Charles Barkley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-barkley/) > [Don't sell your country's pride for a few bucks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milkha-singh/don-t-sell-your-country-s-pride-for-a-few-bucks/) [Milkha Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milkha-singh/) > [If you can sell green toothpaste in this country, you can sell opera.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-caldwell/if-you-can-sell-green-toothpaste-in-this-country-you-can-sell-opera/) [Sarah Caldwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-caldwell/) > [“Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief and noted orator, tried to unite the Indians against the white invasion: The way, and the only way, to check…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/tecumseh-a-shawnee-chief-and-noted-orator-tried-to-unite-the-indians/) [Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-zinn/) > [“Who will bear witness to these small islands and oases of wildness as land is divided and sold to become strip malls, housing developments,and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joni-l-james/who-will-bear-witness-to-these-small-islands-and-oases-of-wildness-as/) [Joni L. James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joni-l-james/) > [The Zionists have no right to the land of Palestine. There is no place for them on the land of Palestine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-morsi/the-zionists-have-no-right-to-the-land-of-palestine-there-is-no-place/) [Mohammed Morsi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-morsi/) > [In times past...it was my habit to talk glibly of the right of man to land. It was a bad habit, and I long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-tucker/in-times-past-it-was-my-habit-to-talk-glibly-of-the-right-of-man-to/) [Benjamin Tucker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-tucker/) > [If the land was divided among all the inhabitants of a country, so that each of them possessed precisely the quantity necessary for his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-robert-jacques-turgot-baron-de-laune/if-the-land-was-divided-among-all-the-inhabitants-of-a-country-so/) [Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-robert-jacques-turgot-baron-de-laune/) > [“You are no one and you are everyone. You are glorious and you are nothing. You are mountains and valleys. You are glory and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-l-rubart/you-are-no-one-and-you-are-everyone-you-are-glorious-and-you-are/) [James L. Rubart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-l-rubart/) > [Football is a game of ebbs and flows, there's mountains and valleys through a full season, through a game, through a quarter, through a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cooper-kupp/football-is-a-game-of-ebbs-and-flows-there-s-mountains-and-valleys/) [Cooper Kupp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cooper-kupp/) > [“All those fascinating varieties of terrain—mountains and valleys, fiords and straits, gulfs and streams—that make Europe a panorama of diverse delight, have broken the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/all-those-fascinating-varieties-of-terrain-mountains-and-valleys/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) ## More by 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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/where-today-are-the-pequot-where-are-the-narragansett-the-mohican-the/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [My father! The sun is my father, and the earth is my mother, and on her bosom I will recline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/my-father-the-sun-is-my-father-and-the-earth-is-my-mother-and-on-her/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/brothers-the-white-people-are-like-poisonous-serpents-when-chilled/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/prepare-a-noble-death-song-for-the-day-when-you-go-over-the-great/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [When the legends die, the dreams end; there is no more greatness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/when-the-legends-die-the-dreams-end-there-is-no-more-greatness/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [I am a Shawnee. My forefathers were warriors. Their son is a warrior. From them, I take my only existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/i-am-a-shawnee-my-forefathers-were-warriors-their-son-is-a-warrior/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/show-respect-to-all-people-but-grovel-to-none/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/where-today-are-the-pequot-where-are-the-narragansett-the-mohican-the-2/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [You, too, will be driven away from your native land and ancient domains as leaves are driven before the wintry storms. Sleep not longer,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/you-too-will-be-driven-away-from-your-native-land-and-ancient-domains/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [I am Shawnee! I am a warrior! My forefathers were warriors. From them I took only my birth into this world. From my tribe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/i-am-shawnee-i-am-a-warrior-my-forefathers-were-warriors-from-them-i/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view and demand that they respect yours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/trouble-no-one-about-their-religion-respect-others-in-their-view-and/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/always-give-a-word-or-a-sign-of-salute-when-meeting-or-passing-a/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [I have made myself what I am. And I would that I could make the red people as great as the conceptions of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/i-have-made-myself-what-i-am-and-i-would-that-i-could-make-the-red/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/sing-your-death-song-and-die-like-a-hero-going-home/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the clouds and the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/sell-a-country-why-not-sell-the-air-the-clouds-and-the-great-sea-as/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) [Explore all 38 Tecumseh quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) ## More Air quotes > [I will be a tireless advocate for our District's defense priorities including Sheppard Air Force Base, Pantex, Bell Helicopter, universities conducting important research, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronny-jackson/i-will-be-a-tireless-advocate-for-our-district-s-defense-priorities/) [Ronny Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronny-jackson/) > [I have lifted my plane . . . for perhaps a thousand flights and I have never felt her wheels glide from the Earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beryl-markham/i-have-lifted-my-plane-for-perhaps-a-thousand-flights-and-i-have/) [Beryl Markham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beryl-markham/) > [If U.S. air, naval, missile, and ground forces were not in and around Korea, and if we were not treaty-bound to fight alongside South…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-buchanan/if-u-s-air-naval-missile-and-ground-forces-were-not-in-and-around/) [Pat Buchanan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-buchanan/) > [The cooler days have brought a wistful mood upon him. The smell of coalsmoke in the air at night. Old times, dead years. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/the-cooler-days-have-brought-a-wistful-mood-upon-him-the-smell-of/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [It's easy to say, let's go in and get the bad guys. But you have a divided country of Sunnis and Shias. The United…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tulsi-gabbard/it-s-easy-to-say-let-s-go-in-and-get-the-bad-guys-but-you-have-a/) [Tulsi Gabbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tulsi-gabbard/) > [I'm a candle flame that sways in currents of air you can't see. You need to be the one who steadies me to burn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/i-m-a-candle-flame-that-sways-in-currents-of-air-you-can-t-see-you/) [Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/) > [It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/it-is-sometimes-said-that-scientists-are-unromantic-that-their/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [ Just between you and me, shouldn’t the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs \[Less Developed Countries\]?... I… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-summers/just-between-you-and-me-shouldn-t-the-world-bank-be-encouraging-more/) [Lawrence Summers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-summers/) > [After a few mouthfuls of moon-flavored air, even the stubbornly drowsy can find themselves wide-eyed.. All the normal noises of life were gone, leaving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-d-wilson/after-a-few-mouthfuls-of-moon-flavored-air-even-the-stubbornly-drowsy/) [N.D. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-d-wilson/) > [There was a little nook on Air Force Two that contained the vice presidential seal, and I would sort of wedge myself in there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-biden/there-was-a-little-nook-on-air-force-two-that-contained-the-vice/) [Jill Biden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-biden/) > [Words are substance strange. Speak one and the air ripples into another's ears. Write one and the eye laps it up. But the sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-beachy-quick/words-are-substance-strange-speak-one-and-the-air-ripples-into/) [Dan Beachy-Quick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-beachy-quick/) > [ \[A\]s you partake of the world's bill of fare, that's darned good advice to follow. 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The logical consequence is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-paul/washington-bureaucrats-have-classified-the-very-air-we-exhale-as-a/) [Ron Paul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-paul/) > [“It is unnatural to fear something natural.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/it-is-unnatural-to-fear-something-natural/) [Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/) [Browse all 6,278 Air quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/air/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "No tribe has the right to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers… 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? 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.\" We gave them forest-clad mountains and valleys full of game, and in return what did they give our warriors and our women? 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