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We did not know there were other people besides the Indian until about one hundred winters ago, when some men with white faces came to our country.

Chief Joseph

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Chief Joseph
Age: 64 †
Born: 1840
Born: March 3
Died: 1904
Died: September 21
Tribal Chief
Wallowa Valley
Joseph Buruzagia
Hin-mut-too-uah-lat-kekht
Thunder Rolling in the Mountains
Heinmot Tooyalaket
Joseph the Younger
Faces
White
Country
Winters
Men
Besides
People
Indian
Winter
Hundred
Came

More quotes by Chief Joseph

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I only ask of the Government to be treated as all other men are treated. If I cannot go to my own home, let me have a home in a country where my people will not die so fast.
Chief Joseph
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Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.
Chief Joseph
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I know that my race must change.
Chief Joseph
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I have asked some of the great white chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They cannot tell me.
Chief Joseph
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Cursed be he that scalps the reputation of the dead.
Chief Joseph
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Some of you think an Indian is like a wild animal. This is a great mistake.
Chief Joseph
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We damaged all the big guns we could, and carried away the powder and the lead.
Chief Joseph
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All men were made brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be content when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases.
Chief Joseph
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All people should be treated the same way on earth.
Chief Joseph
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I am tired of talk that comes to nothing.
Chief Joseph
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We ask only that the law shall work alike on all men.
Chief Joseph
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We gathered all the stock we could find, and made an attempt to move. We left many of our horses and cattle in Wallowa. We lost several hundred in crossing the river.
Chief Joseph
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Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other, then we will have no more wars. We shall all be alike-brothers of one father and one another, with one sky above us and one country around us, and one government for all.
Chief Joseph
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We were contented to let things remain as the Great Spirit Chief made them. They were not and would change the rivers and mountains if they did not suit them.
Chief Joseph
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We had a great many horses, of which we gave Lewis and Clark what they needed, and they gave us guns and tobacco in return.
Chief Joseph
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We were taught to believe that the Great Spirit sees and hears everything, and that he never forgets that hereafter he will give every man a spirit-home according to his deserts: if he has been a good man, he will have a good home if he has been a bad man, he will have a bad home. This I believe, and all my people believe the same.
Chief Joseph
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When the last deer disappears into the morning mist, When the last elk vanishes from the hills, When the last buffalo falls on the plains, I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph
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We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel about God. We do not want to learn that. We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on this earth, but we never quarrel about the Great Spirit. We do not want to learn that.
Chief Joseph
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It takes few words to tell the truth.
Chief Joseph
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A man who would not love his father's grave is worse than a wild animal.
Chief Joseph