DeFrantz's study...is not the first book about the protean Ailey, who was born in hardscrabble Texas in 1931 and died in 1989 after creating close to…

- Alvin Ailey

Racism tears down your insides so that no matter what you achieve, you're not quite up to snuff.

- Alvin Ailey

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

Sometimes you feel bad about yourself when there's no reason to.

- Alvin Ailey

I'm attracted to long-legged girls with long arms and a little head.

- Alvin Ailey

Everything in dancing is style, allusion, the essence of many thoughts and feelings. The abstraction of many moments.

- Alvin Ailey

I am trying to show the world that we are all human beings and that color is not important. What is important is the quality of our work.

- Alvin Ailey

Lena Horne is the sweetest and most adorable woman in the world.

- Alvin Ailey

But the dance speaks to everyone. Otherwise it wouldn't work.

- Alvin Ailey