All I have ever wanted to do was to create a vocabulary that would be adequate to the past and to the 20th century. Not one or the other, but both.

Censorship is the height of vanity.

Dance is the hidden language of the soul.

Dance is the song of the body. Either of joy or pain.

Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery.

Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart.

Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they are great because of their passion.

I believe one thing: that today is yesterday and tomorrow is today and you can't stop.

I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same.

I only wanted to dance. Without dancing, I wished to die.

I'm asked so often at ninety six whether I believe in life after death. I do believe in the sanctity of life, the continuity of life and of energy. I know the anonymity of death has no appeal for me. It is the now that I must face and want to face.

In a dancer there is a reverence for such forgotten things as the miracle of the small beautiful bones and their delicate strength.

It’s not my job to look beautiful. It’s my job to look interesting.

Life today is nervous, sharp, and zigzag. That is what I aim for in my dances.

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