Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, and the last river poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.
“Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, and the last river poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.”
Material wealth is worthless if we destroy the natural world that sustains us.
— Traditional Canada Wisdom, Canada
Source: Commonly attributed to Cree (First Nations) oral tradition; exact origin and attribution are debated among scholars.
More Proverbs from Canada
Keep your stick on the ice.
Stay alert, stay ready, and keep doing the right thing even when nothing is happening.
Traditional Canada Wisdom
Read more →
Tie up your toque!
Brace yourself — things are about to get intense or exciting.
Traditional Canada Wisdom
Read more →
To speak through one's hat.
To talk about something you know nothing about, or to speak nonsense.
Traditional Canada Wisdom
Read more →
To have a fir tree slipped to you.
To be cheated or swindled in a deal.
Traditional Canada Wisdom
Read more →
It's cold out.
An emphatic Québécois way of saying it is bitterly, painfully cold.
Traditional Canada Wisdom
Read more →
Give'er.
Put in your full effort; go all out and do not hold back.
Traditional Canada Wisdom
Read more →