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.Collection: Architecture
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.Collection: Life
Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.Collection: Men
Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.Collection: Great
Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.Collection: Men
The body is a sacred garment.Collection: Health
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.Collection: Learning
'Age' is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years.Collection: Age
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.Collection: Faith
The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body.Collection: Art
Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body.
The body says what words cannot.
Nothing is more revealing than movement.
Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.
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.
You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something has been lost.
Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart.
The only sin is mediocrity.
No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time; it is just that others are behind the times.
Censorship is the height of vanity.
The body never lies.
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.
Learn by practice.
Misery is a communicable disease.
First we have to believe, and then we believe.
There is a vitality, a life force, 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 be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.Collection: Dance
Our arms start from the back because they were once wings.Collection: Inspirational
The body is a sacred garment. It's your first and last garment; it is what you enter life in and what you depart life with, and it should be treated with honor.Collection: Healing
We are all of us, unique - each a unique pattern of creativity and if we do not fulfill it, it is lost for all time.Collection: Creativity
Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it.Collection: Dance
I believe that 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. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes, in some area, an athlete of God. 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.Collection: Dance
Dance is communication, and so the great challenge is to speak clearly, beautifully and with inevitability.Collection: Dance
No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a strange, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.Collection: Dance
Dance is the hidden langauge of the soul, of the body.Collection: Inspirational
All that is important is this one moment in movement. Make the moment important, vital, and worth living. Do not let it slip away unnoticed and unused.Collection: Love
I get up, I fall down, all the while I am dancing.Collection: Dance
In the end, it all comes down to the art of breathing.Collection: Art
What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.Collection: Thinking
Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion.Collection: Dance
Art is eternal for it reveals the inner landscape which is the soul of man.Collection: Art
I believe that dance was the first art. A philosopher has said that dance and architecture were the first arts. I believe that dance was first because it's gesture, it's communication. That doesn't mean it's telling a story, but it means it's communicating a feeling, a sensation to people.Collection: Art
The reason dance has held such an ageless magic for the world is that it has been the symbol of the performance of living.Collection: Magic
Freedom to a dancer means discipline. That is what technique is for -- liberation.Collection: Dance
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.Collection: Lying
I believe that we learn by practice... it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which come shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit.Collection: Dance
Wherever a dancer stands is holy ground.Collection: Dance
Dancers are the messengers of the gods.Collection: Dance
I have heard stories that it was love at first sight for both of us, that we disappeared to a guest room at Merle's house, had our meals sent up, and didn't emerge for several days. This is absolutely untrue. I would never behave like that as a guest in someone's home. Carlos and I went to my beach house.Collection: Beach
Dance is the landscape of man's soul.Collection: Men
To me, this acquirement of nervous, physical, and emotional concentration is the one element possessed to the highest degree by the truly great dancers of the world. Its acquirement is the result of discipline, of energy in the deep sense. That is why there are so few great dancers.Collection: Dance