Chief Joseph Quotes

42 Sourced Quotes

Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself — and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty.

Chief Joseph
I am tired of talk that comes to nothing It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk. It does not require many words to speak the truth.

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

Chief Joseph
If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace.

Chief Joseph
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
The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.

Chief Joseph
Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are — perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. 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
Our people could not talk with these white-faced men, but they used signs which all people understand.

Chief Joseph
We soon found that the white men were growing rich very fast, and were greedy.

Chief Joseph
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
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
It required a strong heart to stand up against such talk, but I urged my people to be quiet and not to begin a war.

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

Chief Joseph
I have asked some of the great white chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They cannot tell me.

Chief Joseph
Good words do not last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people.

Chief Joseph
Our fathers gave us many laws which they had learned from their
fathers. These laws were good.

Chief Joseph
Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other then we shall have no more wars. We shall be all alike — brothers of one father and mother, with one sky above us and one country around us and one government for all. Then the Great Spirit Chief who rules above will smile upon this land and send rain to wash out the bloody spots made by brothers' hands upon the face of the earth. For this time the Indian race is waiting and praying. I hope no more groans of wounded men and women will ever go to the ear of the Great Spirit Chief above, and that all people may be one people.

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

Chief Joseph
The white men told lies for each other. They drove off a great many of our cattle. Some branded our young cattle so they could claim them.

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

Chief Joseph
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
Lawyer acted without authority from our band. He had no right to sell the Wallowa country.

Chief Joseph
It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and the broken promises.

Chief Joseph
I believe much trouble would be saved if we opened our hearts more.

Chief Joseph
I said in my heart that, rather than have war, I would give up my country.

Chief Joseph
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