Words to Inspire You: 10 Quotes from Dancers & Artists

It’s 2022 and whether or not you are the type of person to make resolutions and goals, we want you to start the new year feeling inspired! Here are 10 quotes from dancers and choreographers that will add a little magic to your life.

Ballet Arizona in George Balanchine’s “Symphony in Three Movements.” Photo by Alexander Iziliaev. © The George Balanchine Trust.

1. “The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one’s work seriously and taking one’s self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous.” – Margot Fonteyn

2. “The creative process is not controlled by a switch you can simply turn on or off; it’s with you all the time.” – Alvin Ailey

3. “Very often you are in the right place, at the right time, but don’t know it.” – Maria Tallchief

4. “You live as long as you dance.” – Rudolf Nureyev

5. “I have never achieved great fame – no heights of incredible glory. But any strong endeavor that gives you a sense of joy is the greatest thing in life.” – Sono Osato

6. “Be. Good. To yourself, to other people, to everything you do. It’s a norm of life by which people should try to live. Don’t waste time. Be interesting and interested.” – Mikhail Baryshnikov.

7. “Go within every day and find the inner strength so that the world will not blow your candle out.” – Katherine Dunham

8. “What exactly is success? For me, it is to be found not in applause, but in the satisfaction of feeling that one is realizing one’s ideal.” – Anna Pavlova

9. “Walk into a room, knowing you are somebody, somebody special. Don’t ever let them smash that or pull you down.” – Arthur Mitchell

10. “The dance is strong magic. The body can fly without wings. It can sing without voice. The dance is strong magic. The dance is life.” – Pearl Primus