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

"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."

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

"I labored hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed."

"I know that my race must change."

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"My people were divided about surrendering."

"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."

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

"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."

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

"I will fight no more forever"

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

"We ask to be recognized as men."

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