I wanted to be Stan Laurel, then I wanted to be Fred Astaire and then Captain Kangaroo. I actually started out as a radio announcer when I was 17 and never left the business so that's literally 70 years.
Dick Van DykeRead
I didn't even start dancing until I was in my thirties, and it was like flying.
Interpretation
It's never too late to pursue your passions and find joy in new experiences.
Dick Van Dyke emphasizes that despite starting something as challenging as dancing later in life, the joy and freedom it brings can be immensely rewarding. His experience serves as a reminder that one's age should not limit personal growth and exploration of new interests, illustrating the beauty of late discoveries and the uplifting feeling of doing what you love.
In practice
This quote could be shared at a dance workshop to inspire those hesitant to start.
I wanted to be Stan Laurel, then I wanted to be Fred Astaire and then Captain Kangaroo. I actually started out as a radio announcer when I was 17 and never left the business so that's literally 70 years.
I get little kids who recognize me from 'Mary Poppins,' and it just delights me because it's our third generation.
Just knowing you don't have the answers is a recipe for humility, openness, acceptance, forgiveness, and an eagerness to learn - and those are all good things.
I never had a lot of drive, but because I had family responsibilities, I had a lot of tenacity - the tenacity of a drowning man.
Somebody asked what I wanted on my gravestone. I'm just going to put: 'Glad I Could Help.'
I was lucky to get the kinds of parts I wanted. I always said I didn't want to do anything my kids can't see.
You have to recover the capacity to imagine yourself as an ideal and figure out how to project that into the world.
He was like me - a kindred spirit crazy enough to keep on trying.
When you follow your bliss a kind of track opens up, that's always been there, waiting for you. And the life that you should be living, is the one that you will be living.
Everyday has the potential to be the greatest day of your life
You are desperate to communicate, to edify or entertain, to preserve moments of grace or joy or transcendence, to make real or imagined events come alive. But you cannot will this to happen. It is a matter of persistence and faith and hard work. So you might as well just go ahead and get started.
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.
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