proverb · Words worth keeping
Take only what you need, and leave the land as you found it.
Take only what you need, and leave the land as you found it.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Taking only what is needed and leaving land as found expresses restraint in use and care for a place. It asks that benefit not come through unnecessary depletion.
What the words are saying
The paired instructions connect present use with what remains afterward. A useful reading considers the actual need and effects rather than assuming every intervention can leave a place literally unchanged. The anthology’s community label is retained as source metadata, not independently verified cultural origin or an operational land-management rule.
Everyday example
Visitors consider what they need and what their use of a shared place leaves for others.
When to use it
Use it to discuss restraint and responsibility for a place.
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What it does not mean
No universal management procedure or independently verified community origin is established.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided wisdom reference (2014 AD)
Supplied reference B; unit 1; PDF page 9; collection label: Arapaho
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- Arapaho