Quote

I only ask of the Government to be treated as all other men are treated. If I cannot go to my own home, let me have a home in a country where my people will not die so fast.

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
Men
Treated
People
Fast
Asks
Dies
Cannot
Home
Government
Country

More quotes by Chief Joseph

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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.
Chief Joseph
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Cursed be he that scalps the reputation of the dead.
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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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
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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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The first white men of your people who came to our country were named Lewis and Clark.
Chief Joseph
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I labored hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed.
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.
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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Look twice at a two-faced man.
Chief Joseph
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Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.
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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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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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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My father... had sharper eyes than the rest of our people.
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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It does not require many words to speak the truth.
Chief Joseph
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If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace.
Chief Joseph
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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.
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