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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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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
Remain
Mountain
Contented
Spirit
Suit
Change
Chief
Great
Chiefs
Made
Mountains
Things
Suits
Would
Rivers

More quotes by Chief Joseph

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I would have given my own life if I could have undone the killing of white men by my people.
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It does not require many words to speak the truth.
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When my young men began the killing, my heart was hurt.
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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.
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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.
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I will speak with a straight tongue.
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I did not want my people killed. I did not want bloodshed.
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General Howard informed me, in a haughty spirit, that he would give my people 30 days to go back home, collect all their stock, and move onto the reservation.
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I labored hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed.
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All people should be treated the same way on earth.
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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.
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We damaged all the big guns we could, and carried away the powder and the lead.
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It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and the broken promises.
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Let me be a free man - free to travel, free to stop, free to work.
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You might as well expect rivers to run backwards as any man born free to be contented penned up.
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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.
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Lawyer acted without authority from our band. He had no right to sell the Wallowa country.
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Our fathers gave us many laws which they had learned from their fathers. These laws were good.
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My people were divided about surrendering.
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We gave up some of our country to the white men, thinking that then we could have peace. We were mistaken. The white man would not let us alone.
Chief Joseph