Quotes from Mikhail Baryshnikov

You cannot be happy with your family while being personally unhappy with your work. It's a Catch-22 kind of thing.

I don't go to a gym, I don't do yoga. I don't do personal training.

We're trying to stretch our muscles creatively. It gives us so much more freedom.

I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself.

People of art should never get married and have children, because it's a selfish experience.

No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business.

You cannot be happy with your family while being personally unhappy with your work. It's a Catch-22 kind of thing.

My mother had a son from previous marriage and her husband died in Second World War.

Your body actually reminds you about your age and your injuries - the body has a stronger memory than your mind.

A country like Belgium, or socialist countries in central Europe spend more money on art education than the United States, which is a really puzzling thought.

I like to go to anybody else's birthday, and if I'm invited I'm a good guest. But I never celebrate my birthdays. I really don't care.

When I'm alone, I work sometimes with music, sometimes without and sometimes just listening to NPR.

I was very restless. I really wanted to be a part of a kind of a progressive society. I was fed up with these Communist doctrines and you were hassled all the time with members of the Party committee who were KGB, what you have to do, where in the West you can go or not to go.

People dance at any age.

I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself.

The problem is not making up the steps but deciding which ones to keep.

Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun.

When a body moves, it's the most revealing thing. Dance for a minute, and I'll tell you who you are.

No one is born a dancer. You have to want it more than anything.

Perfection is a theory. You cannot be a perfect human being, perfect artist. You cannot be a perfect husband, you cannot be a perfect father probably and probably I am not. But go through your daily routine with hope you will be a little better in all respects, and do something meaningful

The essence of all art is having pleasure giving pleasure.

Love is not like a potato--you can't throw it out the window.

Dancing can reveal all the mystery that music conceals.

I really reject that kind of comparison that says, Oh, he is the best. This is the second best. There is no such thing.