Good words will not give my people good health and stop them from dying. Good words will not get my people a home where they can live in peace and take care of themselves. I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and broken promises.

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.

My people were divided about surrendering.

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.

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

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.

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.