“ I was not extremely patriotic about Mother Russia. I played their game, pretending. You have to deal with, you know, party people, KGB. Horrifying. Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ 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. Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself. Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ My mother had a son from previous marriage and her husband died in Second World War. Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ Dances have a second and third life. You feel they are never ready. They always have a chance for another life. Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ I found that dance, music, and literature is how I made sense of the world... it pushed me to think of things bigger than life's daily routines... to think beyond what is immediate or convenient. Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ Your body actually reminds you about your age and your injuries - the body has a stronger memory than your mind. Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business. Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ 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… Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ You cannot be happy with your family while being personally unhappy with your work. It's a Catch-22 kind of thing. Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ When I'm alone, I work sometimes with music, sometimes without and sometimes just listening to NPR. Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ I think art education, especially in this country, which government pretty much ignores, is so important for young people. Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ 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. Mikhail Baryshnikov
“ People of art should never get married and have children, because it's a selfish experience. Mikhail Baryshnikov
