Popular

Browse Popular Topics

Quotes by Martha Graham

'Age' is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years.
– Martha Graham
America does not concern itself now with Impressionism. We own no involved philosophy. The psyche of the land is to be found in its movement. It is to be felt as a dramatic force of energy and vitality. We move; we do not stand still. We have not yet arrived at the stock-taking stage.
– Martha Graham
Dance is the hidden language of the soul.
– Martha Graham
Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart.
– Martha Graham
Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.
– Martha Graham
First we have to believe, and then we believe.
– Martha Graham
Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.
– 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.
– Martha Graham
Misery is a communicable disease.
– Martha Graham
Nothing is more revealing than movement.
– 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.
– 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.
– Martha Graham
The body is a sacred garment.
– Martha Graham
Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.
– 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.
– Martha Graham
To me, a building - if it's beautiful - is the love of one man, he's made it out of his love for space, materials, things like that.
– Martha Graham
We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God.
– 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
You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something has been lost.
– Martha Graham
You see, when weaving a blanket, an Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket to let the soul out.
– Martha Graham
The body is shaped, disciplined, honored, and in time, trusted.
– Martha Graham
The body says what words cannot.
– 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 time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.
– Martha Graham
The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body.
– Martha Graham