James Mooney

“The songs are an integral part of the ceremony, being not merely an accompaniment, but the prayer itself.”

“The religion of the Indian is the last thing that he will give up.”

“The oral tradition of a people is its unwritten literature, and is of the same value for a proper estimate of the national genius as is the written literature of a more civilized community.”

“Among the best-informed tribes the religious system is esoteric, and its more important details are known only to the priests or medicine men, who are slow to reveal them to strangers.”

“The dance is to him a prayer for the coming of the good things from the god, and a public expression of thanks for those which have been already received.”

“The Indian is a hunter and a warrior, and the eagle is his brother.”

“He knows that all things are animate, and that the thunder is the voice of a mighty spirit.”

“Every Indian is a gentleman, and is treated as such by every other Indian.”

“The Ghost-dance is a religion of the Indians, not an invention of the white man.”

“In his own thought and language, the Indian is a man; his conqueror is a white man.”