The body says what words cannot.
Martha GrahamRead
Looking at the past is like lolling in a rocking chair. It is so relaxing and you can rock back and forth on the porch, and never go forward.
Interpretation
Dwelling on the past can feel comforting but ultimately prevents progress.
Martha Graham's quote highlights the tendency to reflect on the past, comparing it to the gentle comfort of a rocking chair. While reminiscing can bring a sense of relaxation, it also implies a lack of forward movement, suggesting that continuous focus on what has already happened can hinder personal growth and the pursuit of future goals.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal development, to emphasize the importance of moving forward.
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.
Times change; Hollywood is not the same as it was when I first entered the business. It felt to me like it was starting to narrow down and centralize itself around what would... make money.
Carrying the past in to the present, we program the future to continue the past. Letting go the past in the present, we free the future to be something else.
I don't think anybody who carries a rifle carries the future. Because I don't believe that you can really change the world by killing and shooting. You have the change it by creating and competing.
My neighborhood didn't really encourage women, though it didn't prevent women from progressing, either.
We must make it clear that revolution does not merely mean an upheaval or a sanguinary strife. Revolution necessarily implies the programme of systematic reconstruction of society on new and better adapted basis after complete destruction of the existing state of affairs (i.e., regime).
Defeating racism, tribalism, intolerance and all forms of discrimination will liberate us all, victim and perpetrator alike.
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