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Finest fur may cover toughest meat.

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
Cover
Meat
May
Toughest
Fur
Finest

More quotes by 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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From where the sun now stands I will fight no more.
Chief Joseph
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My father... had sharper eyes than the rest of our people.
Chief Joseph
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Look twice at a two-faced man.
Chief Joseph
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I am tired of talk that comes to nothing.
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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I labored hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed.
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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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
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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
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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.
Chief Joseph
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I believe much trouble would be saved if we opened our hearts more.
Chief Joseph
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Good words will not give me back my children.
Chief Joseph
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Some of you think an Indian is like a wild animal. This is a great mistake.
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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All men were made brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be content when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases.
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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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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Lawyer acted without authority from our band. He had no right to sell the Wallowa country.
Chief Joseph
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We ask only that the law shall work alike on all men.
Chief Joseph