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.

I feel that the essence of dance is the expression of man--the landscape of his soul. I hope that every dance I do reveals something of myself or some wonderful thing a human can be.

At the time I started in ballet they were dancing 'The Spirit of Champagne' on pointe, in Paris. I thought, 'I don't want to dance the spirit of champagne, I want to drink it!

You can be Eastern or Burmese or what have you, but the function of the body and the awareness of the body results in dance and you become a dancer, not just a human being.

Free time was the most precious time, when you should be doing what you loved, or at least slowing down enough to remember what made your life worthwhile and happy.

Growing up in the church in West Virginia, faith is always there. It's part of the fabric of the culture.

I would point out that Japan's proposal at the Versailles Peace Conference on the principle of racial equality was rejected by delegates such as those from Britain and the United States

The propensity to play is situated in very ancient regions of the brain. Rats that have had their neocortex removed still engage in normal play.

I would love to sing with Christina [Aguilera]... she has so much talent... she has an amazing voice.

I learned you don't discover the evidence of any cause in its result.

The simple idea that everyone needs a reasonable amount of challenging work in his or her life, and also a personal life, complete with noncompetitive leisure, has never really taken hold.

[On the birth of son William:] Thank goodness he hasn't got ears like his father.

Every man prefers virtue, when there is not some strong incitement to transgress its precepts.

There is nothing after death, and death itself is nothing.