--- title: "4 Ballets Quotes By Robert Gottlieb" description: "4 Ballets quotes by Robert Gottlieb. Plus more from Robert Gottlieb and more Ballets sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05f/robert-gottlieb-2761_about_tolstoy-may-be-right-about-happy-and-unh_1596507.jpg" --- > [Tolstoy may be right about happy and unhappy families, but in ballet, it works the opposite way: All good ballets are different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/tolstoy-may-be-right-about-happy-and-unhappy-families-but-in-ballet/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05f/robert-gottlieb-2761_about_tolstoy-may-be-right-about-happy-and-unh_1596507.jpg) > [Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be useful to the dancers and temporarily fun for the audience, but in the long run,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/yes-bad-or-mediocre-ballets-can-be-useful-to-the-dancers-and/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6b/robert-gottlieb-2761_art_yes-bad-or-mediocre-ballets-can-be-usefu_1776984.png) > ['The Sleeping Beauty' is the greatest, most challenging and most vulnerable of classical ballets. Everything can go wrong with it, and all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/the-sleeping-beauty-is-the-greatest-most-challenging-and-most/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/18a/robert-gottlieb-2761_beauty_the-sleeping-beauty-is-the-greatest-most_2014845.png) > [Nothing is harder to create than brilliant comic ballets, except maybe brilliant full-evening comic ballets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/nothing-is-harder-to-create-than-brilliant-comic-ballets-except-maybe/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f3d/robert-gottlieb-2761_brilliant_nothing-is-harder-to-create-than-brillia_2862108.png) ## More by Robert Gottlieb > [Paul Taylor's 'Offenbach Overtures' has lots of zip and charm, and its pair of dueling soldiers in red, who end up starry-eyed about each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/paul-taylor-s-offenbach-overtures-has-lots-of-zip-and-charm-and-its/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Jodi Melnick is hotly self-absorbed. Her onstage musicians are much too loud, and like so many narcissistic performers, she goes on much too long:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/jodi-melnick-is-hotly-self-absorbed-her-onstage-musicians-are-much/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Increasingly, editing means going to lunch. It means editing with a credit card, not with a pencil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/increasingly-editing-means-going-to-lunch-it-means-editing-with-a/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > ['Porgy and Bess' has never been thought of as a dance show, and yet it's filled with dance. It uses dance to punctuate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/porgy-and-bess-has-never-been-thought-of-as-a-dance-show-and-yet-it-s/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Blood is the leitmotif of 'Black Swan.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/blood-is-the-leitmotif-of-black-swan/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [We know how Merce Cunningham works and how he thinks - we've been told, over and over again, by him and by others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/we-know-how-merce-cunningham-works-and-how-he-thinks-we-ve-been-told/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [When I was at Cambridge in the early fifties, there was a school nearby for training Army officers in Russian, and some imaginative genius…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/when-i-was-at-cambridge-in-the-early-fifties-there-was-a-school/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Acting has changed since the nineteen-forties.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/acting-has-changed-since-the-nineteen-forties/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Many people say to me, particularly about my dance writing, 'It sounds just like you.' But it sounds just like me after I've made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/many-people-say-to-me-particularly-about-my-dance-writing-it-sounds/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Schumann's 'Quintet in E flat for Piano and Strings' is one of the sublime moments in Romantic music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/schumann-s-quintet-in-e-flat-for-piano-and-strings-is-one-of-the/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [What makes a publishing house great? The easy answer is the consistency with which it produces books of value over a lengthy period of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/what-makes-a-publishing-house-great-the-easy-answer-is-the/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [For me, the real pleasure in writing is in having an excuse to pursue my curiosity about people who have meant something to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/for-me-the-real-pleasure-in-writing-is-in-having-an-excuse-to-pursue/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Ballet in September used to be dead as a dodo. Now, with City Ballet's ingenious decision to give us four weeks of repertory in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/ballet-in-september-used-to-be-dead-as-a-dodo-now-with-city-ballet-s/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [I have fixed more sentences than most people have read in their lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/i-have-fixed-more-sentences-than-most-people-have-read-in-their-lives/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [You can approach 'The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death' in a variety or combination of ways: as a startlingly eccentric hobby; as a series…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/you-can-approach-the-nutshell-studies-of-unexplained-death-in-a/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ballets/robert-gottlieb/#itemlist", "name": "4 Ballets Quotes By Robert Gottlieb", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Tolstoy may be right about happy and unhappy families, but in ballet, it works the opposite way: All good ballets are different from each other and all bad ones are alike, at least in one crucial respect - they're all empty.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Gottlieb" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/tolstoy-may-be-right-about-happy-and-unhappy-families-but-in-ballet/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05f/robert-gottlieb-2761_about_tolstoy-may-be-right-about-happy-and-unh_1596507.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05f/robert-gottlieb-2761_about_tolstoy-may-be-right-about-happy-and-unh_1596507.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05f/robert-gottlieb-2761_about_tolstoy-may-be-right-about-happy-and-unh_1596507.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Tolstoy may be right about happy and unhappy families, but in ballet, it works the opposite way: All good…” — Robert Gottlieb", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be useful to the dancers and temporarily fun for the audience, but in the long run, the lowering of standards can only erode the art form we all love.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Gottlieb" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/yes-bad-or-mediocre-ballets-can-be-useful-to-the-dancers-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6b/robert-gottlieb-2761_art_yes-bad-or-mediocre-ballets-can-be-usefu_1776984.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6b/robert-gottlieb-2761_art_yes-bad-or-mediocre-ballets-can-be-usefu_1776984.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6b/robert-gottlieb-2761_art_yes-bad-or-mediocre-ballets-can-be-usefu_1776984.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be useful to the dancers and temporarily fun for the audience, but in the…” — Robert Gottlieb", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "'The Sleeping Beauty' is the greatest, most challenging and most vulnerable of classical ballets. Everything can go wrong with it, and all too often, everything does.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Gottlieb" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/the-sleeping-beauty-is-the-greatest-most-challenging-and-most/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/18a/robert-gottlieb-2761_beauty_the-sleeping-beauty-is-the-greatest-most_2014845.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/18a/robert-gottlieb-2761_beauty_the-sleeping-beauty-is-the-greatest-most_2014845.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/18a/robert-gottlieb-2761_beauty_the-sleeping-beauty-is-the-greatest-most_2014845.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“'The Sleeping Beauty' is the greatest, most challenging and most vulnerable of classical ballets. Everything…” — Robert Gottlieb", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Nothing is harder to create than brilliant comic ballets, except maybe brilliant full-evening comic ballets.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Gottlieb" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/nothing-is-harder-to-create-than-brilliant-comic-ballets-except-maybe/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f3d/robert-gottlieb-2761_brilliant_nothing-is-harder-to-create-than-brillia_2862108.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f3d/robert-gottlieb-2761_brilliant_nothing-is-harder-to-create-than-brillia_2862108.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f3d/robert-gottlieb-2761_brilliant_nothing-is-harder-to-create-than-brillia_2862108.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Nothing is harder to create than brilliant comic ballets, except maybe brilliant full-evening comic ballets.” — Robert Gottlieb", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ballets/robert-gottlieb/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ballets/robert-gottlieb/", "name": "Ballets Quotes by Robert Gottlieb", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ballets/robert-gottlieb/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05f/robert-gottlieb-2761_about_tolstoy-may-be-right-about-happy-and-unh_1596507.jpg" }, "description": "4 Ballets quotes by Robert Gottlieb. Plus more from Robert Gottlieb and more Ballets sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ballets/robert-gottlieb/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ballets/robert-gottlieb/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Ballets", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ballets/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Robert Gottlieb", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ballets/robert-gottlieb/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```