Chief Joseph Quotes About Great Native American

• 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.

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  Chief Joseph

  Native American  

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

  287

• If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace. Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. 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 think and talk and act for myself, and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.

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  Chief Joseph

  Mother   Brother  

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

  2065

• We are going by you without fighting if you will let us, but we are going by you anyhow!

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  Chief Joseph

  Native American  

  809

• We live, we die, and like the grass and trees, renew ourselves from the soft earth of the grave. Stones crumble and decay, faiths grow old and they are forgotten, but new beliefs are born. The faith of the villages is dust now... but it will grow again... like the trees.

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  Chief Joseph

  Native American  

  3000

• It does not require many words to speak the truth.

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  Chief Joseph

  Native American  

  2889

• I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.

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  Chief Joseph

  Native American  

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

  2405

• From where the sun now stands I will fight no more.

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  Chief Joseph

  Native American  

  Quoted in Herbert J. Spinden, The Nez Perce Indians (1908)

  4698

• Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other, then we will have no more wars. We shall all be alike-brothers of one father and one another, with one sky above us and one country around us, and one government for all.

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  Chief Joseph

  Country   Brother  

  "Why use of Native American nicknames is an obvious affront" by Steve Wulf, www.espn.com. September 3, 2014.

  284

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

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  Chief Joseph

  Mother   Native American  

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

  1795

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

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  Chief Joseph

  Native American  

  2194

• Suppose a white man should come to me and say, "Joseph, I like your horses. I want to buy them." I say to him, "No, my horses suit me; I will not sell them." Then he goes to my neighbor and says to him, "Joseph has some good horses. I want to buy them, but he refuses to sell." My neighbor answers, "Pay me the money and I will sell you Joseph's horses." The white man returns to me and says, "Joseph, I have bought your horses and you must let me have them." If we sold our lands to the government, this is the way they bought them.

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  Chief Joseph

  Native American  

  Arguing against the right of the US Government to force his people to leave their lands, 1876.

  3417

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

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  Chief Joseph

  Native American  

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

  2074

• The earth was created by the assistance of the sun, and it should be left as it was. The country was made without lines of demarcation, and it is no man's business to divide it.

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  Chief Joseph

  Country   Native American  

  1949

• We were like deer. They were like grizzly bear.

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  Chief Joseph

  Native American  

  338

• 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.

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  Chief Joseph

  Native American  

  Speech in surrendering to General Nelson Appleton Miles, October 05, 1877.

  626

• 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.

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  Chief Joseph

  Mother   Brother  

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

  2205

• 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.

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  Chief Joseph

  429

• 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.

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  Chief Joseph

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

  4800

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

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  Chief Joseph

  Native American  

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

  866

• All men were made by the Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers.

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  Chief Joseph

  Brother   Native American  

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

  3398

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