The mirror is not you. The mirror is you looking at yourself.
George BalanchineRead
First comes the sweat. Then comes the beauty if you're very lucky and have said your prayers.
Interpretation
Success requires hard work and dedication, often followed by fortunate outcomes.
This quote by George Balanchine emphasizes the importance of hard work ('sweat') as a precursor to achieving success and fulfillment ('beauty'). It suggests that while tireless effort is essential, luck and a positive mindset, represented by 'prayers', can play a significant role in attaining one's goals.
In practice
This quote can inspire students during finals week as they prepare for their exams.
The mirror is not you. The mirror is you looking at yourself.
I don't want people who want to dance; I want people who have to dance.
God creates, I do not create. I assemble and I steal everywhere to do it - from what I see, from what the dancers can do, from what others do.
Most ballet teachers in the United States are terrible. If they were in medicine, everyone would be poisoned.
One is born to be a dancer. No teacher can work miracles, nor will years of training make a good dancer of an untalented pupil. One may be able to acquire a certain technical facility, but no one can ever 'acquire an exceptional talent.' I have never prided myself on having an unusually gifted pupil. A Pavlova is no one's pupil but God's.
The pointes for girls, I always say, have to be like an elephant's trunk; strong and yet flexible and soft.
The girls and women of our race must not be afraid to take hold of business endeavor and, by patient industry, close economy, determined effort and close application to business, wring success out of a number of business opportunities that lie at their very doors.
Every person who has grown to any degree of usefulness, every person who has grown to distinction, almost without exception has been a person who has risen by overcoming obstacles, by removing difficulties, by resolving that when he met discouragement he would not give up.
Wealth is the product of energy times intelligence: energy turned into artifacts that advantage human life.
I wanted to make a living, but I really was not interested in money at all. I was interested in being a great comedian.
I'm sure there are many more people who can identify with failure and hardship in life than with the success of an Alexander Hamilton or a John D. Rockefeller.
You've got to eat while you dream. You've got to deliver on short-range commitments, while you develop a long-range strategy and vision and implement it. The success of doing both. Walking and chewing gum if you will. Getting it done in the short-range, and delivering a long-range plan, and executing on that.
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