Martha Graham quotes

Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body. (Martha Graham)
To me, the body says what words cannot. View quote
Martha Graham
No artist is ahead of his time. He is the time. It is just that others are behind the time. View quote
Martha Graham
Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion. View quote
Martha Graham
Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired. View quote
Martha Graham
You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something has been lost. View quote
Martha Graham
Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can. View quote
Martha Graham
The only sin is mediocrity. View quote
Martha Graham
Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle. View quote
Martha Graham
When you start with an idea, or something hits you, then you have to follow that through to the end, and it's the following through to the end that makes the pattern. That, for me, is choreography. View quote
Martha Graham
I love words very much. I've always loved to talk, and I've always love words - the words that rest in your mouth, what words mean and how you taste them and so on. And for me the spoken word can be used almost as a gesture. (Martha Graham)
I've always regarded eroticism as a beautiful word. I'm not ashamed to be linked to it. I would be ashamed to be linked to flamboyant sexuality; that's a part of life, but it isn't all of it. View quote
Martha Graham
I did not want to be a tree, a flower or a wave. In a dancer's body, we as audience must see ourselves, not the imitated behavior of everyday actions, not the phenomenon of nature, not exotic creatures from another planet, but something of the miracle that is a human being. View quote
Martha Graham
Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery - what it all means... View quote
Martha Graham
Misery is a communicable disease. View quote
Martha Graham
The main thing, of course, always, is the fact that there is only one of you in the world, just one, and if that is not fulfilled then something has been lost. Ambition is not enough; necessity is everything. View quote
Martha Graham
The next time you look into the mirror, just look at the way the ears rest next to the head; look at the way the hairline grows; think of all the little bones in your wrist. It is a miracle. And the dance is a celebration of that miracle. View quote
Martha Graham
I am absorbed in the magic of movement and light. Movement never lies. It is the magic of what I call the outer space of the imagination. View quote
Martha Graham
The body is a sacred garment: it is what you enter life in and what you depart life with, and it should be treated with honour, and with joy and with fear as well. But always, though, with blessing. View quote
Martha Graham
People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose: I was chosen to be a dancer, and, with that, you live all your life. View quote
Martha Graham
We look at the dance to impart the sensation of living in an affirmation of life, to energize the spectator into keener awareness of the vigor, the mystery, the humor, the variety, and the wonder of life. This is the function of the American dance. (Martha Graham)
'Age' is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years. View quote
Martha Graham
The body never lies. View quote
Martha Graham
The reason dance has held such an ageless magic for the world is that it has been the symbol of the performance of living. View quote
Martha Graham
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. View quote
Martha Graham