I don't want people who want to dance; I want people who have to dance.

Why are you stingy with yourselves? Why are you holding back? What are you saving for - for another time? There are no other times. There is only now. Right now.

First comes the sweat. Then comes the beauty if you're very lucky and have said your prayers.

In my ballets, woman is first. Men are consorts. God made men to sing the praises of women. They are not equal to men: They are better.

I don't have a past. I have a continuous present. The past is part of the present, just as the future is. We exist in time.

What are you waiting for? What are you saving for? Now is all there is.

Someone once said that dancers work just as hard as policeman, always alert, always tense. But I don't agree with that because policeman don't have to look beautiful at the same time.

The ballet is a purely female thing; it is a woman, a garden of beautiful flowers, and man is the gardener.

Dancers are instruments, like a piano the choreographer plays.

Dance is music made visible

Storyless is not abstract. Two dancers on the stage are enough material for a story; for me, they are already a story in themselves

In the morning, I always use a cube of ice on my face - it gives me a natural lift.

Owning a computer without programming is like having a kitchen and using only the microwave oven

Life is a puzzle that I feel like we'll never fully put together.

I was born in a place humans call central Africa, in a dense rain forest so beautiful, no crayons could ever do it justice.

Hardly a man in the world has an opinion upon morals, political, or religion which he got otherwise than through his associations and sympathies.

An artist's duty is rather to stay open-minded and in a state where he can receive information and inspiration. You always have to be ready for that little artistic Epiphany.

There's nothing wrong with wearing a hat and cowboy boots if you want to be a country singer. But when you open your mouth, have something new to say. Have your own style.

There is a deity within us who breathes that divine fire by which we are animated.

No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most of them wish they were the only one alive, and quite a number fondly believe their wish has been granted.

As you get older, you suffer fools less easily. That's why there's all those cranky character actors. I'm an exception. I'm a sweetheart.