Quotes

The only critic is a full house.

[on why he didn't want children:] "What if they were not as good as me? What would I do with those imbeciles?"

I don't care if Margot is a Dame of the British Empire or older than myself. For me she represents eternal youth; there is an absolute musical quality in her beautiful body and phrasing. Because we are sincere and gifted, an intense abstract love is born between us every time we dance together.

I approach dancing from a different angle than those who begin dancing at 8 or 9. Those who have studied from the beginning never question anything. For me, purity of movement wasn't enough. I needed expression, more intensity, more mind.

I'm really alive when I'm on stage.

Technique is what you fall back on when you run out of inspiration.

The main thing is dancing, and before it withers away from my body, I will keep dancing till the last moment, the last drop.

I really have to dance more often, and so I travel around. If I don't, I will crumble.

Of course I have a personal life.

What is art? It is not just nature, it is nurtured nature. It is intelligence applied to what physical ability you have.

There was simply from this quite early age the awareness that the only thing I wanted was to dance.

I approach dancing from a different angle than those who begin dancing at 8 or 9. Those who have studied from the beginning never question anything.

As long as my ballets are danced, I will live

A pas de deux is a dialogue of love. How can there be conversation if one partner is dumb?

You live as long as you dance.

"I am still on stage. If you read the press... you would believe that I should be gone. But here I am doing it and doing it well"!

For me, purity of movement wasn't enough. I needed expression, more intensity, more mind.

We danced with one body, one soul... For me, Margot is my family. She is all I have, only her.

When I miss class for one day, I know it. When I miss class for two days, my teacher knows it. When I miss class for three days, the audience knows it.

When you dance, what you do sprayed with your blood.

[on Margot Fonteyn]: She became a very, very great friend of mine. Tome, she is a part of my family. That's all that I have. Only her.