If you don't feel challenged, it's because you're not doing enough. Ballet should never feel comfortable. Comfortable is lazy! If you're comfortable …

- George Balanchine

In my ballets, woman is first. Men are consorts. God made men to sing the praises of women. They are not equal to men: They are better.

- George Balanchine

I don't want people who want to dance; I want people who have to dance.

- George Balanchine

Dance is music made visible

- George Balanchine

First comes the sweat. Then comes the beauty if you're very lucky and have said your prayers.

- George Balanchine

Music must be seen, and dance must be heard

- George Balanchine

The ballet is a purely female thing; it is a woman, a garden of beautiful flowers, and man is the gardener.

- George Balanchine

What are you waiting for? What are you saving for? Now is all there is.

- George Balanchine

I don't have a past. I have a continuous present. The past is part of the present, just as the future is. We exist in time.

- George Balanchine