Quote

First we have to believe, and then we believe.

Martha Graham

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Martha Graham
Age: 96 †
Born: 1894
Born: May 11
Died: 1991
Died: April 1
Artist
Ballet Dancer
Ballet Master
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Dancer
Music Pedagogue
Pittsburg
Pennsylvania
Martha Grehem
First
Believe
Dance
Belief
Firsts

More quotes by Martha Graham

Image
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 Graham
Image
You don't pick dance. Dance picks you.
Martha Graham
Image
It's what I always wanted to do, to show the laughter, the fun, the joy of dance.
Martha Graham
Image
The body says what words cannot.
Martha Graham
Image
Our arms start from the back because they were once wings.
Martha Graham
Image
...Although, as the Latin verb to educate, educate, indicates, it is not a question of putting something in but drawing it out, if it is there to begin with...I want all of my students and all of my dancers to be aware of the poignancy of life at that moment. I would like to feel that I had, in some way, given them the gift of themselves.
Martha Graham
Image
The spine is the tree of life. Respect it.
Martha Graham
Image
Dancers are the messengers of the gods.
Martha Graham
Image
The body is shaped, disciplined, honored, and in time, trusted.
Martha Graham
Image
I am certain that movement never lies. There is only one law of posture I have been able to discover - the perpendicular line connecting heaven and earth.
Martha Graham
Image
Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart. The instrument through which the dance speaks is also the instrument through which life is lived ... the human body.
Martha Graham
Image
Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.
Martha Graham
Image
Misery is a communicable disease.
Martha Graham
Image
What makes a great dancer is not technique. What makes a great dancer is passion.
Martha Graham
Image
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.
Martha Graham
Image
I love words very much. I've always loved to talk, and I've always love words — the words that rest in your mouth, what words mean and how you taste them and so on. And for me the spoken word can be used almost as a gesture.
Martha Graham
Image
The center of the stage is where I am.
Martha Graham
Image
Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart.
Martha Graham
Image
I believe that we learn by practice.
Martha Graham
Image
It is difficult to see the great dance effects as they happen, to see them accurately, catch them fast in memory. It is even more difficult to verbalize them for critical discussion. The particular essence of a performance, its human sweep of articulate rhythm in space and in time has no specific terminology to describe it by.
Martha Graham