A Quote by Zadie Smith

I tap danced for ten years before I began to understand people don't make musicals anymore. All I wanted to do was be at MGM working for Arthur Freed or Gene Kelly or Vincent Minelli. Historical and geographical constraints made this impossible. Slowly but surely the pen became mightier than the double pick-up time step with shuffle.

Zadie Smith

Quote Topics

Anymore Arthur Became Before Began Constraints Danced Double Freed Gene Geographical Historical Impossible Kelly Made Make Mgm Mightier Musicals Pen People Pick Shuffle Slowly Slowly But Surely Step Surely Tap Tap Dance Ten Ten Years Than Time Understand Up Wanted Working Years

Quote Author

Zadie Smith
British - Novelist
Born: October 25, 1975

I still can't believe I danced with Gene Kelly. How lucky am I that I've been in movies where I've danced with two of the greatest dancers of all time - with Gene Kelly and John Travolta.

Olivia Newton-John

I love the old Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly movies; they're so beautiful to look at. It's such a shame we don't make them anymore. Although, I don't know how you could make tap dancing current and topical.

Jamie Bell

He [Gene Kelly] once told me dancing was a man's game, as much of a sport as baseball itself. And he made us believe that. He changed our minds and suddenly, all of America wanted to dance just like Gene Kelly.

Liza Minnelli

People think we choreograph. We dance four years in clubs. We watch videos every day. We do a step, it ends up a sensation, and for us it was just a copy maybe of a Gene Kelly video.

Rob Pilatus

Finally, if you want to write, you have to just shut up, pick up a pen, and do it. I'm sorry there are no true excuses. This is our life. Step forward. Maybe it's only for ten minutes. That's okay. To write feels better than all the excuses.

Natalie Goldberg

The pen is mightier than the sword, but the tongue is mightier than them both put together.

Marcus Garvey

The gun is mightier than the pen, was our true opinion, and the RPG is mightier still.

Lydia Millet

It would be impossible to make a comparison between Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Their personalities are entirely different.

Cyd Charisse

'The Unsinkable Molly Brown' was my favorite for me to be in because it was all dancing. There were other musicals that I made with Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly that were wonderful pictures, and we had a lot of fun making them.

Debbie Reynolds

I've been trying to sing for a long time. I didn't realize that's what I wanted to do until I was about seven or eight. I tap danced since I was three years old, and that's all I did.

Trevor Jackson

I was in a ballet company, and I auditioned for Bob Alton, a top choreographer at MGM. He sent me to see Arthur Freed, who offered me a seven-year contract.

Cyd Charisse

I've made movies that nobody saw initially, and then, all the sudden, people over the years pick up on it. Like 'Spinal Tap' and 'Princess Bride.'

Rob Reiner

around 1977 I became very ... negative, I began to do things unconsciously that I didn't understand, and they were very sabotagistic and I didn't know what I was doing. I was pissing everybody off, I was breaking my bridges. I was hostile to people, I was doing performances and insulting people there - I was doing whatever I could to destroy whatever world I had created ten years before, without knowing, really, why

Charlemagne Palestine

The pen is mightier than the sword, if you shoot that pen out of a gun

Stephen Colbert

I try to wait until things set up just right before I take a trade. Then, when I'm ready to take the trade, I slowly count to ten before I pick up the phone. It's better to have the wrong idea and good timing than the right idea and bad timing.