Agnes De Mille

Agnes George de Mille (September 18, 1905 October 7, 1993) was an American dancer and choreographer. She was born in Harlem into a well-connected family of theater professionals (her uncle was Hollywood director Cecil B. DeMille, and Agnes de Mille was also the granddaughter of economist Henry George).

6 Quotes

The creative urge is the demon that will not accept anything second rate.

— Agnes De Mille

Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.

— Agnes De Mille

Theater people are always pining and agonizing because they're afraid that they'll be forgotten. And in America they're quite right. They will be.

— Agnes De Mille

Anything can happen in adolescence. It is always a risky time. Ugly ducklings can sometimes change into swans. The reverse is equally possible. The best-brought-up child is taken over by powers as divorced from daily habits as earthquakes.

— Agnes De Mille

After sixteen--this is it--for life. The chances are good you won't like it.

— Agnes De Mille

I learned three important things in college--to use a library, to memorize quickly and visually, to drop asleep at any time given a horizontal surface and fifteen minutes. What I could not learn was to think creatively on schedule.

— Agnes De Mille