Twyla Tharp

In terms of individuals who actually inspired me, very few of the academic people that I had access to had that power over me. Maybe it's simply because I wasn't that committed to geometry.

I thought I had to make an impact on history. I had to become the greatest choreographer of my time. That was my mission. Posterity deals with us however it sees fit. But I gave it 20 years of my best shot.

My mother was the first woman in the county in Indiana where we were born, in Jay County, to have a college degree. She was educated as a pianist and she wanted to concertize, but when the war came she was married, had a family, so she started teaching.

Optimism with some experience behind it is much more energizing than plain old experience with a certain degree of cynicism.

The formal education that I received made little sense to me.

My mother was a dominant force in my life. She had a very specific idea about education, which was: you should know everything about everything. It was quite simple. There was no exclusivity, and there really was no judgment.

Judgment is not my business. Existing is my business.

The only thing I fear more than change is no change. The business of being static makes me nuts.

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.