Margot Fonteyn Quotes

Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE , was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet, eventually being appointed Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the company by Queen Elizabeth II.

✵ 18. May 1919 – 21. February 1991
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Margot Fonteyn: 6 quotes0 likes

Famous Margot Fonteyn Quotes

“If I have learnt anything, it is that life forms no logical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?”

Margot Fonteyn

Source: Margot Fonteyn : Autobiography‎ (1975), p. 272
Variant: Life forms illogical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?
As quoted in Simpson's Contemporary Quotations‎ (1988) by James Beasley Simpson
Context: I need to have a purpose in life and for that I might sacrifice some of the luxuries that I enjoy; fortunately I am fairly adaptable. I try to be aware, flexible and unbiased in my thinking. If I have learnt anything, it is that life forms no logical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?

“What a beautiful step! I shall never be able to do it.”

Margot Fonteyn

As quoted in Encyclopedia of World Biography (1998) edited by Paula Kay Byers and Suzanne Michele Bourgoin, Vol. Hox-Kie‎, p. 504

“Minor things can become moments of great revelation when encountered for the very first time.”

Margot Fonteyn

Source: Margot Fonteyn : Autobiography‎ (1975), p. 9

“The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous.”

Margot Fonteyn

As quoted in Simpson's Contemporary Quotations‎ (1988) by James Beasley Simpson; also quoted in Running on Empty: Meditations for Indispensable Women (1992) by Ellen Sue Stern, p. 235
Paraphrased variants: The most important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative, and the second disastrous.
Take your work seriously, but never yourself.

“Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable.”

Margot Fonteyn

As quoted in Thoughts from Earth (2004) by James Randall Miller

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