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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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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
Disturbed
Freely
Gives
Mother
Earth
Giving
Subsist
Hoe
Plough
More quotes by 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
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
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
My people were divided about surrendering.
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
I know that my race must change.
Chief Joseph
Cursed be he that scalps the reputation of the dead.
Chief Joseph
Our fathers gave us many laws which they had learned from their fathers. These laws were good.
Chief Joseph
From where the sun now stands I will fight no more.
Chief Joseph
It does not require many words to speak the truth.
Chief Joseph
We ask only that the law shall work alike on all men.
Chief Joseph
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.
Chief Joseph
Good words will not give me back my children.
Chief Joseph
If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace. There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike. give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow.
Chief Joseph
I did not want my people killed. I did not want bloodshed.
Chief Joseph
I am tired of talk that comes to nothing It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk. It does not require many words to speak the truth.
Chief Joseph
We damaged all the big guns we could, and carried away the powder and the lead.
Chief Joseph
I saw that the war could not be prevented. The time had passed.
Chief Joseph
Treat all men alike. Give them the same law. Give them an even chance to live and grow.
Chief Joseph
You might as well expect rivers to run backwards as any man born free to be contented penned up.
Chief Joseph
