John Guare

“All the New York City Ballet does is hit beautiful home runs.”

“I mean New York City is the financial capital of the world. It's where all the money passes through, the Dow Jones, whatever, that's where all the money goes.”

“People go to see beautiful paintings to see how much they cost. Wow. The practical value is that it shows you what the human spirit can do.”

“What we're dealt with hopefully is two arms, two eyes, two legs, a head, a heart. The variations, the extensions, the possibilities of the human body, what that can do.”

“The New York City Ballet is always about the realm of possibilities, the realm of what the human body can do, what the human spirit can do. And it's about listening, it's about listening to remarkable music and how we respond to that.”

“It's amazing how a little tomorrow can make up for a whole lot of yesterday.”

“Show business offers more solid promises than Catholicism.”

“And it is always Easter Sunday at the New York City Ballet. It is always coming back to life. Not even coming back to life - it lives in the constant present.”

“However, the moral center of New York City, I believe, is the New York City Ballet.”

“I've had students at Yale: my main task with them in drama school was not helping them with their writing but showing them how valuable they were. Because they're ready to give it up and go into teaching or television.”

“You must keep people happy backstage because that affects what's onstage. During a run, the playwright feels like the mayor of a small town filled with noble creatures who have to get out there and make it brand new every night. When a production works, it's unlike any other joy in the world.”

“The life of a dancer is tragically short. What is remarkable about the New York City Ballet is that it makes us forget that. Because it keeps the ballet alive.”

“Does the New York City Ballet affect other places? Yeah, it lets people know they should come to New York.”

“I think that every year that the New York City Ballet is alive is worthy of celebration. Because otherwise the terrible thing is just that we take it for granted.”

“The ballet makes us look at those bodies, it makes us listen to that music, it makes us wonder at the geometry, of the way they come together. The way that extraordinary space is controlled and given such emotional force.”

“It's a lucky life to be a playwright.”

“I believe that the imagination is the passport we create to take us into the real world. I believe the imagination is another phrase for what is most uniquely us.”

“Avoiding humiliation is the core of tragedy and comedy.”

“To stay around any place you love, you have to have a job. In college at Georgetown in the fifties, I got my first theater job checking coats at the National, which was Washington's main theater.”

“And what would be great numbers in a Broadway show are now on stage of the New York City Ballet.”