181 Quotes by Martha Graham

A dancer, more than any other human being, dies two deaths: the first, the physical when the powerfully trained body will no longer respond as you would wish. After all, I choreographed for myself. I never choreographed what I could not do. I changed steps in Medea and other ballets to accommodate the change. But I knew. And it haunted me. I only wanted to dance.

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.

Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it.

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

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.

Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.

Our arms start from the back because they were once wings.

I am unbelievably relieved. He is one of the best kids in the world.

Who has not found the Heaven below / Will fail of it above ... His eagerness, his voracity, a blood memory, in the sense that he can extract more from his life than what he has really lived. He must have a will to explore unknown feelings and dare to feel them. This may seem terrifying, but it has to be done because there is no other option.