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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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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
Going
Please
Men
Stay
Shall
White
Chiefs
Tell
Indian
Place
Sees
Cannot
Authority
Great
Asked
More quotes by Chief Joseph
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
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
Big name often stands on small legs.
Chief Joseph
Lawyer acted without authority from our band. He had no right to sell the Wallowa country.
Chief Joseph
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
I believe much trouble would be saved if we opened our hearts more.
Chief Joseph
Treat all men alike. Give them the same law. Give them an even chance to live and grow.
Chief Joseph
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
Finest fur may cover toughest meat.
Chief Joseph
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
Some of you think an Indian is like a wild animal. This is a great mistake.
Chief Joseph
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
Look twice at a two-faced man.
Chief Joseph
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
A man who would not love his father's grave is worse than a wild animal.
Chief Joseph
If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace.
Chief Joseph
I know that my race must change.
Chief Joseph
From where the sun now stands I will fight no more.
Chief Joseph
It takes few words to tell the truth.
Chief Joseph
You might as well expect rivers to run backwards as any man born free to be contented penned up.
Chief Joseph
