“The main thing, of course, always, is the fact that there is only one of you in the world, just one, and if that is not fulfilled then something has been lost. Ambition is not enough; necessity is everything.”

The unique must be fulfilled.

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.

Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.

Discipline is liberation.

People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose. I was chosen to be a dancer, and with that, you live all your life.

Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul’s weather to all who can read it.

We are all of us, unique – each a unique pattern of creativity and if we do not fulfill it, it is lost for all time.

Our arms start from the back because they were once wings.

What makes a great dancer is not technique. What makes a great dancer is passion.

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

Misery is a communicable disease.

Repetition not for monotony but the ecstasy it induces.

It’s not my job to look beautiful. It’s my job to look interesting.

It’s what I always wanted to do, to show the laughter, the fun, the joy of dance.

Dance is communication, and so the great challenge is to speak clearly, beautifully and with inevitability.

The next time you look into the mirror, just look at the way the ears rest next to the head; look at the way the hairline grows; think of all the little bones in your wrist. It is a miracle. And the dance is a celebration of that miracle.

The average Hollywood film star’s ambition is to be admired by an American, courted by an Italian, married to an Englishman and have a French boyfriend.

Here’s the difficulty about suicide: it is an act of ambition that can be committed only when one has passed beyond ambition.

The best job a man could have would be a chef. They’d understand the long hours I work and the drive and ambition it takes to succeed.

My ambition is to have this wonderful gift produce practical results for the future of commercial flying and for the women who may want to fly tomorrow’s planes.

Patriotism. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name.

Ambition. An overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by friends when dead.

I love playing a smart, ambitious, talented woman. Who doesn’t? That’s really fun for me.

We will not be dictated to by men with less intelligence, energy, initiative and ambition than we ourselves possess.