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I will speak with a straight tongue.

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
Tongue
Speak
Straight

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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It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and the broken promises.
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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Finest fur may cover toughest meat.
Chief Joseph
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I know that my race must change.
Chief Joseph
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Let me be a free man - free to travel, free to stop, free to work.
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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Treat all men alike. Give them the same law. Give them an even chance to live and grow.
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 saw clearly that war was upon us when I learned that my young men had been secretly buying ammunition.
Chief Joseph
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Governor Isaac Stevens of the Washington Territory said there were a great many white people in our country, and many more would come that he wanted the land marked out so that the Indians and the white man could be separated.
Chief Joseph
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All people should be treated the same way on earth.
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 pressed my father's hand and told him I would protect his grave with my life. My father smiled and passed away to the spirit land.
Chief Joseph
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An Indian respects a brave man, but he despises a coward.
Chief Joseph
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It does not require many words to speak 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
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I am tired of talk that comes to nothing.
Chief Joseph
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I do not believe that the Great Spirit Chief gave one kind of men the right to tell another kind of men what they must do.
Chief Joseph
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The Indian race is waiting and praying.
Chief Joseph