"Repetition not for monotony but the ecstasy it induces."
Read quote
8 likes
Quote collection
Martha Graham quotes (page 5 of 7)
126 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Art is eternal for it reveals the inner landscape which is the soul of man."
Read quote
8 likes
"The unique must be fulfilled."
Read quote
8 likes
"The gesture is the thing truly expressive of the individual - as we think so will we act."
Read quote
8 likes
"It takes ten years, usually, to make a dancer. It takes ten years of handling the instrument, handling the material with which you are dealing, for you to know it completely."
Read quote
8 likes
"You can be Eastern or Burmese or what have you, but the function of the body and the awareness of the body results in dance and you become a dancer, not just a human being."
Read quote
8 likes
"I use the words gods and goddesses principally, I think, to mean beautiful bodies - bodies that are absolute instruments. And I believe in discipline, I believe in a very definite technique."
Read quote
8 likes
"I don't think in art there is ever a precedent; each moment is a new one and terrifying and threatening and bursting with hope."
Read quote
8 likes
"The center of the stage is where I am."
Read quote
8 likes
"I never thought of myself as being a genius. I don't know what genius is. I think a far better expression is a retriever, a lovely strong golden retriever that brings things back from the past, or retrieves things from our common blood memory"
Read quote
7 likes
"It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open."
Read quote
7 likes
"I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable."
Read quote
7 likes
"The body is shaped, disciplined, honored, and in time, trusted."
Read quote
7 likes
"First we have to believe, and then we believe."
Read quote
7 likes
"There is fatigue so great that the body cries, even in its sleep."
Read quote
7 likes
"In 1980, a well-meaning fundraiser came to see me and said, "Miss Graham, the most powerful thing you have going for you to raise money is your respectability." I wanted to spit. Respectable! Show me any artist who wants to be respectable."
Read quote
7 likes
"I've relaxed my feelings about other companies performing my works. I have never in principle been against my ballets being danced by other companies. Rather, it is that we lack the time, space and money to insure that they are done well. To me, the only sin is mediocrity."
Read quote
6 likes
"I believe one thing: that today is yesterday and tomorrow is today and you can't stop."
Read quote
6 likes
"The world I'm interested in is the one where things are not named."
Read quote
6 likes
"All things I do are in every woman. Every woman is Medea. Every woman is Jocasta. There comes a time when a woman is a mother to her husband. Clytemnestra is every woman when she kills."
Read quote
6 likes