More from Martha Graham
Stand up! Keep your backs straight! Remember that this is where the wings grow.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham I’d rather an audience like me than dislike me, but I’d rather they disliked me than be apathetic, because that is the kiss of death.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham 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.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham You don’t pick dance. Dance picks you.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham 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.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham The unique must be fulfilled.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham Discipline is liberation.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose. I was chosen to be a dancer, and with that, you live all your life.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul’s weather to all who can read it.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham 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.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham Our arms start from the back because they were once wings.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham What makes a great dancer is not technique. What makes a great dancer is passion.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham The gesture is the thing truly expressive of the individual – as we think so will we act.
Martha GrahamMartha Graham
Original quotes
From our community writers
Don’t compare her to sunshine and roses when she’s clearly orchids and moonlight.
Melody LeeMelody Lee Oh moonlight, continue to shine on me. As you light up the sky, maybe some peace will come to me.
ShamaShama Stop counting the reasons why they should be loved and start counting the many reasons why you are the one who is worth loving.
Ayaka HaseAyaka Hase Sure, there are oceans and seas and magnificent things – but none of them are you.
L.T. PhoenixL.T. Phoenix I wish you the wildest of dreams.
Kate WestKate West The way you look at me, The way you make me feel whole, The way you make me feel safe, thats poetry to me.
Barbara GianquittoBarbara Gianquitto You cannot leave and have me too I cannot exist in two places at once-when you ask if we can still be friends.
Rupi KaurRupi Kaur Live to be happy not to impress.
Hayley EvansHayley Evans
Meet the writers
More on life
I’m stuck between loving life and losing my faith in humanity.
Samantha King HolmesSamantha King Holmes Everywhere in life, the true question is not what we gain, but what we do.
Thomas CarlyleThomas Carlyle It is not that life is a rollercoaster. Situations coming in life are a rollercoaster.
BK ShivaniBK Shivani Our real journey in life is interior.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton What do I mean by loving ourselves properly? I mean first of all, desiring to live, accepting life as a very great gift and a great good, not because of what it gives us, but because of what it enables us to give to others.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton You have to love what you do to the point that you can’t imagine doing anything else with your life.
Tom FordTom Ford The war between my mind and my heart has been the biggest destruction of my peace.
Samantha King HolmesSamantha King Holmes It’s an ongoing problem, an ongoing situation, life is. It’s just life, and it never stops and it never will. You just be thankful for what you’ve got, and move on.
Willie NelsonWillie Nelson