Ballet was exactly what I was searching for, but my environment definitely made me the dancer and the person that I am today. And the Hip-Hop culture was a big part of it.

Success is not easy and I think everyone should know that hard work and perseverance and being open to giving back are so much more powerful than stepping all over people to get to the top.

You can do anything you want, even if you are being told negative things.stay strong and find motivation.

The best piece of advice that I remember probably on a daily basis is to accept everything about me that is different. That is what makes me special.

You can dream big and it doesn't matter what you look like, where you come from.

My body is very different from most of the dancers I dance with. My hair is different than most I dance with. But I didn't let that stop me. Black girls rock and can be ballerinas.

The path to your success is not as fixed and inflexible as you think.

You're always working to improve, and you're always being critiqued on your next performance. It's not about what you've done. There's always room to grow.

I just try to approach every opportunity on stage, as if it's my first time and my last time.

I feel like I represent every young dancer, and even non-dancer, who felt they were not accepted by the ballet world. I'd like to think that they can see themselves in me.

There are muscles that we have in our feet that most human beings don't even know that we have. The strength that we have is so detailed.

When asked my advice as I stroll through the town, “A good lady knows how to take a political assassin down.

After all, these were blood drinkers, beings who spoke gently, liked poetry, and yet killed mortals all the time.

People really need to show up early to hear Hollis Brown. They are just an unbelievable live band.

I've been songwriting for a long time, usually while on the road, as a way to get my feelings out.

Fame puts you there where things are hollow.

If you get too well-known, you can never be a comedian's comedian, it just won't sit well. But I'm fine with that. I'm fine with that label.

The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self.

We think, "If I have more money, I am more valuable. If I make more money, I am more valuable." It's all sort of wound up with this problem that humans have with their failure.

The Harvard Law of Animal Behavior holds that under controlled experimental conditions of temperature, time, lighting, feeding, and training, the organism will behave as it damn well pleases.

Everybody loves birdsong. It's a human need... the sound of birds gives a deep, if sometimes almost unnoticed, pleasure