The Great Spirit Chief who rules above all will smile upon this land... and this time the Indian race is waiting and praying.
Interpretation
The quote expresses hope for a positive change and recognition for the Indigenous people.
Chief Joseph's quote reflects a deep-rooted belief in the interconnection between spirituality and the natural world, suggesting that divine or greater forces are watching over and have the power to influence the fate of the land and its people. It signifies the long-standing resilience and hope of the Indian race, as they await a time of healing and acknowledgment of their rightful place in society.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about environmental restoration and honoring indigenous practices.
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 β and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty.
It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and the broken promises.
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.
The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.
All men were made by the Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers.
Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.
I have been accused of having believed when I wrote Sex and Temperament that there are no sex differences... This, many readers felt, was too much. It was too pretty. I must have found what I was looking for. But this misconception comes from a lack of understanding of what anthropology means, of the open-mindedness with which one must look and listen, record in astonishment and wonder, that which one would not have been able to guess.
Purity of mind and conduct is the first glory of a woman.
It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.
Tradition is the illusion of permanance.
Gods prefer simple, vicious games, where you Do Not Achieve Transcendence but Go Straight To Oblivion; a key to the understanding of all religion is that a god's idea of amusement is Snakes and Ladders with greased rungs.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.