Dancing Quotes

“I wish I could dance in real life like I dance in my head.”
― Niedria Kenny, Compilation of Contemplation

“Nesta is a wolf who has been locked in a cage her whole life.

'I know,' Cassian said. She was a wolf who had never learned how to be a wolf, thanks to that cage humans called propriety and society. And like any maltreated animal, she bit anyone who came near. Good thing he liked being bitten. Good thing he savoured the bruises and scratches she left on his body every night, and that her unleashing when he was buried in her made him want to answer with his own.

Elain leaned forward. 'You only think you know- you haven't seen her on the dance floor. That's when Nesta truly lets the wolf roam free. When there's music.'

'Really?' Nesta had told him once, when he'd dragged her out of a particular seedy tavern, that she'd been there for the music. He'd ignored her, thinking it an excuse.

'Yes,' Elain said. 'She was trained in dance from a very young age. She loves it, and music. Not in the way I enjoy a waltz or a gavotte, but in the way that performers make an art of it. Nesta could bring an entire ballroom to a halt when she danced with someone.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“I can't imagine a world where you would need to feel less than compared to someone else, because I am entirely and unequivocally entranced by you, Lysta.”
― Lauren Loscig, War Hour

“It was not really a dancing song but, rather, the kind of music that made you want to nestle into the arms of someone wonderful and stay there forever.

Through the music's swells, they swayed, and they knew, and they held each other, and they knew, and they melted, and they knew, and they knew, and they knew. Everything would be different and difficult soon.”
― Emily Habeck, Shark Heart

“I make music for people who dance like squids. Each song is fluid, and if you heard one you’d probably drown.”
― Jarod Kintz, Powdered Saxophone Music

“I glanced between the grass and the crowd and the cluster of musicians coaxing such lively music from drums and fiddles and pipes as I approached, no more than a shy, hesitant doe.

Once, those same sounds had shaken me awake, had made me dance and dance. I supposed they were now little more than weapons in my arsenal as I stopped before Tamlin, lowered my lashes, and asked softly, 'Will you dance with me?'

Relief, happiness, and a slight edge of concern. 'Yes,' he breathed. 'Yes, of course.'

So I let him lead me into the swift dance, spinning and tilting me, people gathering to cheer and clap. Dance after dance after dance, until sweat was running down my back as I worked to keep up, keep that smile on my face, to remember to laugh when my hands were within strangling distance of his throat.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin

“If they were to kill her, her ghost would still be dancing.”
― Kevin Jared Hosein, Hungry Ghosts

“Move.'

Cassian's cold voice cracked through the spell of the music, halting her. He stood before them, amid the sea of people twirling around and around, and even though most wore black, his armour and blades made him seem... different. Like a true piece of the night.

Eris looked down his straight nose at Cassian. 'I don't take orders from brutes.'

Nesta stifled her snarl and said coolly to Cassian, 'Am I to understand that you would like to dance with me?'

'Yes.' His hazel eyes were burning with violence. Had he really believed what he'd seen on the dance floor?

Eris bared his teeth at Cassian. 'Go sit at your master's feet, dog.'

It took all her concentration, every moment of Mind-Stilling, to keep from ripping out Eris's throat. But Nesta shoved her fury down, to the place where she'd stifled her power. 'No one likes a selfish partner, Eris.' She didn't so much as look at Cassian. Didn't trust what she'd do if she beheld pain in his eyes at Eris's insult. Feyre and Rhysand had given Eris one of her blades just to ensure his continued alliance. She wouldn't jeopardise it. So she added with a croon, 'Time to share.'

Eris threw her a mocking smile. 'We'll play later, Nesta Archeron.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Be creative. Be spontaneous. Move your body with a rhythmic flow. Activate that Sacral Chakra.”
― Robin S. Baker

“I admire the flow of your dancing moves, and I'd love to bottle them up and sell them as windshield wiper fluid. I only wish they came in Ozarks Rain Flavor.”
― Jarod Kintz, The Lewis and Clark of The Ozarks

“Dance critics all over the world have called my body moves, “Sculpturesque,” “As full of motion as a Rodin statue,” and “Like watching Helen Keller eat Jell-O with her elbows.” My dancing is so still and silent that it belongs to a foggy Ozarks morning.”
― Jarod Kintz, The Lewis and Clark of The Ozarks

“Turn the music down, and when you hit zero decibels—turn it down even more. Negative volume produces the most beautiful dancing.”
― Jarod Kintz, The Lewis and Clark of The Ozarks

“Jazz is made for elevators. It's crafted for the finest dancing spaces.”
― Jarod Kintz, Eggs, they’re not just for breakfast

“The only thing better than Steve Winwood is an instrumental cover of Steve Winwood that's heavy on the flute. When I hear it, I dance like I'm on a crowded elevator.”
― Jarod Kintz, Eggs, they’re not just for breakfast

“Later he will lose his grip on the difference between waking and sleeping and will enter a land of pain so great he will wonder why God made the world. Later he will forget his wife's name. What he will remember - occasionally - is how he stopped, and dropped his briefcase, and began to move his hips to the beat of the drums, and he will think that is why God made the world. Just that.”
― Stephen King, If It Bleeds

“Barbara usually stayed at home or spent the evening with Stephen and Mary. But Stephen and Mary would not always be there, for now they also went out fairly often; and where was there to go to except the bars? Nowhere else could two women dance together without causing comment and ridicule, without being looked upon as freaks, argued Mary.”
― Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness

“There doesn’t need to be music for two people to move together and make somethin’ special.”
― Bella Jewel, Hard to Fight

“Bathed in the light of those sparkling mirrors, I burn like a star while my partner fades into the shadows. The crowd begins to cheer. I'm the life they thought they lost. I've emerged, their resurrected champion at center ring.”
― Penelope Przekop, Please Love Me

“The ubiquitous singing, chanting, and dancing of traditional societies laid the requisite groundwork from which civilization and modernity sprouted. Take that away and Homo Sapiens are thoroughly ordinary primates - upright chimpanzees, nothing more.”
― Matt J. Rossano, Ritual in Human Evolution and Religion: Psychological and Ritual Resources

“Sylvie pushed at the water with the side of her foot. A ribbed circle spread to the four walls and the curves of its four sides rebounded, interpenetrated, and the orderly ranks of light swept and swung about the room. Lucille stomped with her feet until the water sloshed against the walls like water carried in a bucket. There were sounds of dull concussion from the kitchen, and the lace curtains, drawn thin and taut by their own sodden weight, shifted and turned. Sylvie took me by the hands and pulled me after her through six grand waltz steps. The house flowed around us.”
― Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping

“The breath of our soul dancing
into the dust of the Earth
and shaping it with our soul’s artistry
We are moving poetry”
― Tamara Rendell, Mystical Tides

“The next four girls were led from the wall into the centre, where the red blended with the blue and settled into a respectable purple. Again the couples began absorbedly describing circles on the village-hall concrete to the beat of the song that the scrawny singer was enthusiastically belting out”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Busz po polsku

“It flowed and swam around her, filling her blood, and if she could have done so, she would have melted into the melody, become the rolling drums, the soaring violins, the clashing cymbals with the counter-beat, the horns and reeds with their high-arcing song.

There wasn't enough space inside her for the sound, for all it made her feel- not enough space in her mind, her heart, her body; and all she could do to honour it, worship it, was dance.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Eris's amber eyes studied hers. 'Trust Rhysand to keep you hidden away.'

Right. She was to flatter him, keep him on their side. 'I just saw you the other week.'

Eris chuckled. 'And as riveting as it was to see you send Tamlin scrambling off with his tail between his legs, I didn't see this side of you. The time since the war has changed you.'

She didn't smile, but she met his stare directly as she said, 'For the better, I hope.'

'Certainly for the more interesting. It seems you came to play the game tonight after all,' Eris spun her, and when she returned to him, he murmured in her ear, 'Don't believe the lies they tell you about me.'

She pulled back just enough to meet his gaze, 'Oh?'

Eris nodded to where Mor watched them from beside Feyre and Rhys, his face neutral and aloof. 'She knows the truth but has never revealed it.'

'Why?'

'Because she is afraid of it.'

'You don't win yourself any favours with your behaviour.'

'Don't I? Do I not ally myself with this court under constant threat of being discovered and killed by my father? Do I not offer aid whenever Rhysand wishes?' He spun her again. 'They believe a version of events that is easier to swallow. I always thought Rhysand wiser than that, but he tends to be blind where those he loves are concerned.'

Nesta's mouth twitched to one side. 'And you? Who do you love?'

His smile sharpened. 'Are you inquiring about my eligibility?'

'I'm merely saying it's hard to find a good dance partner these days.'

Eris laughed, the sound like silk over her skin. She shivered. 'Indeed it is. Especially one who can both dance and tear the King of Hybern's head from his shoulders.'

She let him see a bit of that person- see the savage rage and silver fire he'd witnessed before Tamlin. Then she blinked and it was gone. Eris's face tightened, and not from fear.

He twirled her again, the waltz already coming to a close. He whispered in her ear, 'They say your sister Elain is the beauty, but you outshine her tonight.' His hand stroked down the bare skin of her back, and she arched slightly into his touch.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“I never said I didn’t like dancing,” he says, arching an eyebrow. “Yes, you did!” He shakes his head, the smallest of smiles lifting one corner of his mouth. “I said I came here to play hockey, not dance. And I told you I don’t like the spotlight. I never said I don’t like dancing.” I think back to our conversations, realizing he’s right. “Well, you certainly gave me the impression you don’t like dancing.” “It just takes the right partner.” (Page 177, Just Don't Fall)”
― Emma St Clair

“Write, rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite. until you can barely stand it any longer; then go do something else that provides immediate gratification, like baking or dancing."
​- Cynthia Neale”
― Cynthia G. Neale

“He in turn has clasped his arms tightly around her, as if he would carry her away; and so she dances, and will dance the entire evening, and would dance forever, in ecstasy of bliss.”
― Upton Sinclair, The Jungle / by Upton Sinclair. (1920) [Leather Bound]

“What was I supposed to say to that? If I added my agreement, I could easily be punished as a traitor to the crown. Perhaps that is why so many girls had already been relieved of this position. Alice could be testing their allegiance to her wicked father.”
― Tayler Marie Brooks, Sugar Plum Princess

“There is nothing but the tempo pounding in time to my heartbeat and the feel of my feet sweeping across the floor.”
― Tricia Levenseller, The Shadows Between Us

“If you think you got away with making a High School Musical reference without me mercilessly mocking you for it, you’re wrong. I’m saving it for later”
― Emma Lord, Tweet Cute