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When the last deer disappears into the morning mist, When the last elk vanishes from the hills, When the last buffalo falls on the plains, I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.

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
Disappear
Deer
Morning
Hunts
Elk
Lasts
Mist
Plains
Last
Hunters
Vanishes
Freedom
Mice
Buffalo
Fall
Hunting
Hunter
Must
Falls
Disappears
Hills
Hunt

More quotes by Chief Joseph

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I did not want my people killed. I did not want bloodshed.
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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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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Good words will not give me back my children.
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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I labored hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed.
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All people should be treated the same way on earth.
Chief Joseph
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When my young men began the killing, my heart was hurt.
Chief Joseph
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Look twice at a two-faced man.
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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The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.
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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 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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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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My people were divided about surrendering.
Chief Joseph
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I will speak with a straight tongue.
Chief Joseph
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Our fathers gave us many laws which they had learned from their fathers. These laws were good.
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 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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I saw that the war could not be prevented. The time had passed.
Chief Joseph