The body says what words cannot.
Martha GrahamRead
You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something has been lost.
Interpretation
Embracing one's uniqueness is essential for living a fulfilled life.
This quote by Martha Graham emphasizes the importance of recognizing and honoring one's individuality. It suggests that each person has a unique contribution to make, and failing to fulfill this potential results in a loss not just for the individual, but for society as a whole. The essence of being unique is tied to personal satisfaction and purpose in life, and when people do not embrace their uniqueness, they miss the opportunity to experience true fulfillment.
In practice
In a motivational speech about self-acceptance at a community event.
The body says what words cannot.
Nobody cares if you can't dance well.
Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it.
What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.
No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a strange, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body.
Reckoned physiologically, everything ugly weakens and afflicts man. It recalls decay, danger, impotence; he actually suffers a loss of energy in its presence. The effect of the ugly can be measured with a dynamometer. Whenever man feels in any way depressed, he senses the proximity of something ugly. His feeling of power, his will to power, his courage, his pride - they decline with the ugly, they increase with the beautiful.
There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness.
Death does not trouble me. I have no fear of supernatural punishments, of course, nor could I enjoy an eternal life in which there would be nothing left for me to do, the task of living having been accomplished.
The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.
The search for scapegoats is essentially an abnegation of responsibility: it indicates an inability to assess honestly and intelligently the true nature of the problems which lie at the root of social and economic difficulties and a lack of resolve in grappling with them.
The future is neither ahead nor behind, on one side or another. Nor is it dark or light. It is contained within ourselves; its evil and good are perpetually within us.
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