"The spine is the tree of life. Respect it."
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Quote collection
Martha Graham quotes (page 3 of 7)
126 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"You will only get out of a dance class what you bring to it. Learn by practice."
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"My dancing is not an attempt to interpret life in the literary sense. It is an affirmation of life through movement."
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"There is a force, a quickness that is translated through you into action. If you block it, the world will not have it."
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"I did not choose to be a dancer. I was chosen."
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"Censorship is the height of vanity."
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"'Age' is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years."
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"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."
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"Dancing is a very living art. It is essentially of the moment, although a very old art. A dancer's art is lived while he is dancing. Nothing is left of his art except the pictures and the memories--when his dancing days are over."
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"A dancer must listen to his body and pay homage to it. Behind the movement lies this terrible, driving passion, this necessity. I won't settle for anything less."
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"Nobody cares if you can't dance well."
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"Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery - what it all means, the way the little bone near the ankle relates itself to the floor for a perfect stance, a perfect plie."
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"Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired."
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"If you feel depressed you shouldn't go out on the street because it will show on your face and you'll give it to others. Misery is a communicable disease."
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"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."
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"What makes a great dancer is not technique. What makes a great dancer is passion."
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"The body is a sacred garment."
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"In the end, it all comes down to the art of breathing."
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"The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body. I don't leap and jump anymore. I look at young dancers, and I am envious, more aware of what glories the body contains. But sensitivity is not made dull by age."
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"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."
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