“I would have young dancers come to me and ask me questions and want to...” — Misty Copeland Quote

“I would have young dancers come to me and ask me questions and want to know what my experiences were like: 'What's it like being a black dancer?' So I just felt like it was necessary for me to share my experiences with them.”

“Finding ballet gave me passion for the first time in my life. I was always very shy and just wanted to fit in; I never daydreamed about what I wanted to be when I grew up. But dancing gave me a connection to my personality that made me grow.”

“Being one of the few African American women to make it to this level in a classical ballet company, the level of American Ballet Theatre, takes a lot of perseverance.”

“I'm going to be honest. Up until I started work on Bumble, the 'f-word' scared me. People would ask me if I was a feminist, and I didn't know how to respond. The word seemed to put guys off, but now I realise, who cares?”

“The wish to pray is a prayer in itself. God can ask no more than that of us.”

“I don't know what I'm painted as. I can be happy as hell and then someone says something and I feel different. People are going to say whatever they want to say to... get people to read their story. I just ask people to write the whole, complete story.”