War can be avoided, and it ought to be avoided. I want no war.
Interpretation
War is unnecessary and should be prevented.
Chief Joseph emphasizes the importance of avoiding war, highlighting the suffering and destruction it brings. His statement reflects a desire for peace and cooperation instead of conflict, advocating for proactive measures to prevent war.
In practice
In a speech about international relations, one might say, 'As Chief Joseph stated, war can be avoided, and it ought to be avoided.'
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.
My colleagues and I have gone in the footsteps of our predecessors since the very first day we were called by our people to care for their future. We went any place, we looked for any avenue, we made any effort to bring about negotiations between Israel and its neighbors, negotiations without which peace remains an abstract desire.
All my life I been waitin' for I been prayin' for, for the people to say that we don't want to fight no more. They'll be no more wars and our children will play, one day.
The well-being and the hopes of the peoples of the world can never be served until peace - as well as freedom, honor and self-respect - is secure.
So let us here resolve that Dag Hammarskjold did not live, or die, in vain. Let us call a truce to terror. Let us invoke the blessings of peace. And, as we build an international capacity to keep peace, let us join in dismantling the national capacity to wage war.
Another name for peace is development.
Working for peace in the future is to work for peace in the present moment.
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