Chief Joseph Quotes - Page 3

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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

  Moving, Home, People

  28 Copy quote

• Our people could not talk with these white-faced men, but they used signs which all people understand.

  Chief Joseph

  Men, White, People

  22 Copy quote

• 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

  Dad, Father, Hands

  23 Copy quote

• 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

  Mother, Hoe, Giving

  12 Copy quote

• When I think of our condition, my heart is heavy. I see men of my own race treated as outlaws and driven from country to country, or shot down like animals.

  Chief Joseph

  Country, Heart, Animal

  Lincoln Hall Speech in Washington D.C., January 14, 1879.

  6 Copy quote

• I am tired of talk that comes to nothing.

  Chief Joseph

  Tired, Broken Promises, American Indian

  16 Copy quote

• Let me be a free man - free to travel, free to stop, free to work.

  Chief Joseph

  Travel, Native American, Men

  Lincoln Hall Speech in Washington D.C., January 14, 1879.

  16 Copy quote

• The Great Spirit Chief who rules above all will smile upon this land... and this time the Indian race is waiting and praying.

  Chief Joseph

  Native American, Race, Land

  26 Copy quote

• Words do not pay for my dead people.

  Chief Joseph

  People, Pay, Dead People

  Readings from Howard Zinn’s 'Voices of a People’s History of the United States', December 26, 2005.

  8 Copy quote

• Some of you think an Indian is like a wild animal. This is a great mistake.

  Chief Joseph

  Mistake, Animal, Thinking

  11 Copy quote

• For a short time we lived quietly. But this could not last. White men had found gold in the mountains around the land of winding water.

  Chief Joseph

  Men, White Man, Land

  19 Copy quote

• War can be avoided, and it ought to be avoided. I want no war.

  Chief Joseph

  War, Want, Ought

  7 Copy quote

• The first white men of your people who came to our country were named Lewis and Clark.

  Chief Joseph

  Country, Men, White Man

  Documentary "The West", ("Episode 6: Fight No More Forever"), 1996.

  18 Copy quote

• I cannot tell how much my heart suffered for my people while at Leavenworth.

  Chief Joseph

  Heart, People, My Heart

  16 Copy quote

• My father was the first to see through the schemes of the white man.

  Chief Joseph

  Father, Men, White Man

  15 Copy quote

• I will speak with a straight tongue.

  Chief Joseph

  Tongue, Speak

  14 Copy quote

• The Indian race is waiting and praying.

  Chief Joseph

  Race, Racism, Waiting

  Chief Joseph's speech in Washington, D.C. (1879), later published in Chester Anders Fee "Chief Joseph: The Biography of a Great Indian", www.pbs.org. 1936.

  13 Copy 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

  Country, Home, Men

  Lincoln Hall Speech in Washington D.C., January 14, 1879.

  17 Copy quote

• 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

  Country, Men, White

  14 Copy quote

• A chief called Lawyer, because he was a great talker, took the lead in the council, and sold nearly all the Nez Perce country.

  Chief Joseph

  Country, Lawyer, Chiefs

  10 Copy quote

• 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

  Country, Winter, Men

  8 Copy quote

• I labored hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed.

  Chief Joseph

  Trouble, Bloodshed, Hard

  11 Copy quote

• I saw clearly that war was upon us when I learned that my young men had been secretly buying ammunition.

  Chief Joseph

  War, Men, Buying

  9 Copy quote

• A man who would not love his father's grave is worse than a wild animal.

  Chief Joseph

  Father, Animal, Men

  8 Copy quote

• We damaged all the big guns we could, and carried away the powder and the lead.

  Chief Joseph

  Gun, Powder, Bigs

  12 Copy quote

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