"Words do not pay for my dead people."

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

"An Indian respects a brave man, but he despises a coward."

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

"I hope that 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."

"From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more, forever."

"I will speak with a straight tongue."

"I want the white people to understand my people."

""Good "words will not give me back my children."

"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."

"My father... had sharper eyes than the rest of our people."

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

"We had good white friends who advised us against taking the war path. My friend and brother, Mr. Chapman, told us just how the war would end."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

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

"The Indian race are waiting and praying."

"I only ask of the government to be treated as all other men are treated."

"The earth and myself are of one mind. The measure of the land and the neasure of our bodies are the same"

"We ask to be recognized as men."

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

"I will fight no more forever"

"I have heard talk and talk, but nothing is done."

"The country was made without lines of demarcation, and it is no man's business to divide it... Do not misunderstand me, but understand me fully with reference to my affection for the land. I never said the land was mine to do with it as I chose. The one who has the right to dispose of it is the one who created it. I claim a right to live on my land and accord you the privilege to live on yours."

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

"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."

"My people were divided about surrendering."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"You might as well expect rivers to run backwards as any man born free to be contented penned up."

"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."

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

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

"I would give up everything rather than have the blood of white men upon the hands of my people."

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

"I know that my race must change."

"I labored hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed."

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

"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."

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

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

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

"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."

"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 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."

"We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel about God. We do not want to learn that. We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on this earth, but we never quarrel about the Great Spirit. We do not want to learn that."

"I am ready to talk today. I have been in a great many councils, but I am no wiser. We are all sprung from a woman, although we are unlike in many things. We can not be made over again. You are as you were made, and as you were made you can remain. We are just as we were made by the Great Spirit, and you can not change us ; then why should children of one mother and one father quarrel ? — why should one try to cheat the other ? 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."