Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes

Great art is the contempt of a great man for small art.

Every great dance company, even when it seems poised in perfect balance, needs constant renewal of both repertory and performers.

I plan to take Hoods Up to another level of art once we've reached the level of doing so.

I think Broadway is good for sharpening your skills. It's the best for really reaching the zenith of your talent. You go so far and reach the peak of it and you say, "Maybe this is the best performance I can do."

In the U.K., there's absolutely no money for television. So you can do pretty much whatever you want. They're not losing money on any of the shows, so they'll give you a lot of creative freedom. In the United States, there are millions and millions of dollars at stake, so they need a sure formula.

There's no point pretending that all of Martha Graham's pieces are equally strong.

Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be useful to the dancers and temporarily fun for the audience, but in the long run, the lowering of standards can only erode the art form we all love.

A proof of really great art is that it is generally true - it seldom falls into the misapprehensions to which minor art is liable.

The effort to create a work of art that is true and potentially lasting, that is the very best work of art you can create at that point in your life - a book that may only reach or move a few people but will seem to those people somehow transformative. That's the ideal; that's always the motivation.

When the opportunity to choreograph came up, it was nothing more in my head but an opportunity. Then it suddenly became a career very quickly.

There are lots of good directors I would like to work with; I want to be inspired and challenged by them.

We don't really want to think that the artist is only very skilled, that he has merely devoted his life to perfecting a certain set of intelligible skills.

An artist's career always begins tomorrow.

Art should never try to be popular. The public should try to make itself artistic.

A copy of the universe is not what is required of art; one of the damned things is ample.

Not all spending initiatives were designed to be immortal.

I do not think we can get any legislation this session for extension of land grants unless we pay more for it than it is worth.

Reducing future risks requires paying some immediate costs.

The move into adult comedy wasn't so much moving away from 'The Wonder Years' as expanding myself as a director.

I think that it's important that actors keep getting challenged every day. For every creative person, it's a terrible moment when they say they have done all they want to do.

I got to feel like what I'm giving the fans is 100 percent and that it's game-changing.

I wanna grow and develop as an artist, and I feel like different kinds of collaborations can only help me in that way.

I'm inspired to work with good actors, period. I want to work with the best anytime because I think they'll make me better.

Hopefully I've gotten better as an actor as the years have gone on, but the type of work I want to do has never changed.

I'm just trying to up my films - how every film should be better than the previous one. That's what I struggle for.