QuoteProject
The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music. Bodies never lie.
Agnes De Mille
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The essence of a culture is reflected through its artistic expressions like dance and music.

Agnes De Mille's quote emphasizes that the authentic and deepest expressions of a community are showcased through their dances and music. These art forms transcend words, revealing emotions, stories, and truths that may not be easily articulated, highlighting the sincerity of human experience and connection.

Themes

DanceMusicExpressionCultureArt

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about the importance of cultural heritage, one might say, 'As Agnes De Mille once said, 'The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music.'

More from Agnes De Mille

Ours is an upbeat, a hurried, hasty beat. It keeps pressing us to go farther, to include everything so that we can savor everything, so that we can know everything, so that we will miss nothing. Partly it's greed, but mainly its curiosity. We just want to experience it. And we do.
Agnes De MilleRead
No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.
Agnes De MilleRead
Ballet technique never becomes easy, it becomes possible
Agnes De MilleRead
To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking.
Agnes De MilleRead
We can't stand silence, because silence induces thinking. And if we thought, we would have to face ourselves.
Agnes De MilleRead
Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.
Agnes De MilleRead

Similar quotes

The best thing about writing has been the writer's life, the sense of being expressed, the ownership of the day, the entirely specious sense of freedom we have, however slave we are to some boss or other. I wouldn't trade it for any other life.
Anthony MinghellaRead
Junk is the ideal product... the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy.
William S. BurroughsRead
We go to the theater to be entertained, but if what is left after you watch the movie is a sort of eye-opening perspective on some social issues, then it can be a really powerful piece of art.
Jordan PeeleRead
A portrait photographer depends upon another person to complete his picture. The subject imagined, which in a sense is me, must be discovered in someone else willing to take part in a fiction he cannot possibly know about.
Richard AvedonRead
Feathers shall raise men even as they do birds towards heaven :- That is by letters written with their quills.
Leonardo Da VinciRead
To me, what is important in the theater is that we don't want to make a conclusion. We don't want to make a statement, don't want to say what something is. We want to ask, 'What is it?'
Robert WilsonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.