The earth is our mother. She should not be disturbed by hoe or plough. We want only to subsist on what she freely gives us.

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.

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

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.

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

I will speak with a straight tongue.

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