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I labored hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed.

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
Labored
Bloodshed
Avoid
Trouble
Hard

More quotes by 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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From where the sun now stands I will fight no more.
Chief Joseph
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It does not require many words to speak the truth.
Chief Joseph
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The earth is our mother. She should not be disturbed by hoe or plough. We want only to subsist on what she freely gives us.
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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It takes few words to tell the truth.
Chief Joseph
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I am tired of talk that comes to nothing.
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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If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace.
Chief Joseph
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You might as well expect rivers to run backwards as any man born free to be contented penned up.
Chief Joseph
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I did not want my people killed. I did not want bloodshed.
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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All people should be treated the same way on earth.
Chief Joseph
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My father... had sharper eyes than the rest of our people.
Chief Joseph
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I hope that no more groans of wounded men and women will ever go to the ear of the Great Spirit Chief above, and that all people may be one people.
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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I saw that the war could not be prevented. The time had passed.
Chief Joseph
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I will speak with a straight tongue.
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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Our chiefs are killed. . . . The little children are freezing to death. . . . My people have no blankets, no food. . . . My heart is sick and sad. . . . I will fight no more forever.
Chief Joseph