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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
Fur
Finest
Cover
Meat
May
Toughest

More quotes by Chief Joseph

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An Indian respects a brave man, but he despises a coward.
Chief Joseph
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We were like deer. They were like grizzly bear.
Chief Joseph
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We ask only that the law shall work alike on all men.
Chief Joseph
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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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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
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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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We damaged all the big guns we could, and carried away the powder and the lead.
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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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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We gathered all the stock we could find, and made an attempt to move. We left many of our horses and cattle in Wallowa. We lost several hundred in crossing the river.
Chief Joseph
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My people were divided about surrendering.
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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Let me be a free man - free to travel, free to stop, free to work.
Chief Joseph
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My father... had sharper eyes than the rest of our people.
Chief Joseph
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I know that my race must change.
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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You might as well expect rivers to run backwards as any man born free to be contented penned up.
Chief Joseph
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It takes few words to tell the truth.
Chief Joseph
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I am tired of talk that comes to nothing.
Chief Joseph
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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.
Chief Joseph