Martha Graham Body Quotations

the instrument by which the dance expresses itself is also the instrument by which life is lived: the human body.

The body says what words cannot.

Stand up! Keep your backs straight! Remember that this is where the wings grow.

The body is a sacred garment. It's your first and last garment; it is what you enter life in and what you depart life with, and it should be treated with honor.

No animal ever has an ugly body until it is domesticated. It is the same with the human body.

The body is shaped, disciplined, honored, and in time, trusted.

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.

The gesture is the thing truly expressive of the individual - as we think so will we act.

There is fatigue so great that the body cries, even in its sleep.