Lyndon Johnson, as majority leader of the United States Senate, he made the Senate work

At the ballet, you really feel like you're in the presence of something outside the rest of your life. Higher than the rest of your life.

I never wanted to do biography just to tell the life of a famous man. I always wanted to use the life of a man to examine political power, because democracy shapes our lives

The Senate is an unknowing world

Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals.

Robert Moses wasn't elected to anything. We're taught that in a democracy power comes from being elected. He had more power than anyone, and he held it for 48 years

The moment the curtain rose on that first ballet, I knew something wonderful and new had come into my life. I can still see the first scene. The ballet was Divertimento No. 15

The New York City Ballet is obviously speaking to a whole new generation and bringing it the same wonder and beauty that it brought previous generations

Ballet is sort of a mystery to me. And I don't want to unravel that mystery.

I deliberately made an effort not to become an expert on the ballet.

I don't think of my books as being biographies. I never had any interest in doing a book just to write the life of a great man. I had zero interest in that. My interest is in power. How power works.

An action made by an unwitting man, shall not define, nor justify a common thought and interpretation.

The sacred pint alone can unbind the tongue...

Every underground artist has that little chip on his shoulder, like "I'm stuck here, and I'm trying to get out of this little hole that I'm in." You've got this core fan base, but it's limited.

My sole ambition as a composer is to hurl my javelin into the infinite space of the future.

Persuasion occurs when trust and confidence meet belief, risk tolerance, and safety.

In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation.

People have the right to say what they want to.

I grew up in a house with dogs. We always had dogs. We always had a bunch of dogs, actually.

Art is both creation and recreation.

The ugly is very appealing to man. It's instinct. One shrinks from the ugly, yet wants to look at it. There's a devilish fascination in it. We extract pleasure from horror.