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.
Stability and peace in our land will not come from the barrel of a gun, because peace without justice is an impossibility.
That's what peace processes are about - changing bullets for votes.
We must be prepared to see an Association of Nations in conference growing into an organic system of world controls for world affairs and the keeping of the worldβs peace, or we must be prepared for β a continuation of war.
World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor - it requires only that they live together with mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement.
It is the acid test of nonviolence that in a nonviolent conflict there is no rancor left behind, and in the end the enemies are converted into friends.
The pacifist's task today is to find a method of helping and healing which provides a revolutionary constructive substitute for war.
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