Martha Graham Quotes

"The body never lies"

"The body is a sacred garment."

"The body says what words cannot."

"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."

"Those who enter to buy, support me. Those who come to flatter, please me. Those who complain, teach me how I may please others so that more will come. Only those hurt me who are displeased but do not complain."

"The only sin is mediocrity."

"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 a miracle."

"You see, when weaving a blanket, an Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket to let the soul out."

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body."

"Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart."

"The body never lies."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Nothing is more revealing than movement."

"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."

"No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time; it is just that others are behind the times."

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul."

"Age' is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years."

"First we have to believe, and then we believe."