“A dancer must listen to his body and pay homage to it. Behind the movement lies this terrible, driving passion, this necessity. I won’t settle for anything less.”

You don’t pick dance. Dance picks you.

I don’t think in art there is ever a precedent; each moment is a new one and terrifying and threatening and bursting with hope.

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.

I have to feel like I’m in control of my body.

We are not to consider the world as the body of God: he is an uniform being, void of organs, members, or parts; and they are his creatures, subordinate to him, and subservient to his will.

Music melts all the separate parts of our bodies together.

The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It’s your mind you have to convince.

I choose not to make a graveyard of my body for the rotting corpses of dead animals.

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.

Are not rays of light very small bodies emitted from shining substances?

The only decent bone in her body was mine.