Daily Inspiration Quote by Suzanne Farrell

A dancer describing a “chosen profession” makes it sound like a calm career decision, but Suzanne Farrell’s line is really a snapshot of conversion: the instant when admiration hardens into identity. The repetition of “And” matters. It mimics breathless recollection, the way memory replays a turning point with the pacing of a heartbeat, not a résumé. “I just thought” downplays the scale of what’s happening, a modesty that’s culturally ballerina-coded: discipline framed as destiny, ambition softened into inevitability.

The subtext is less about desire than about permission. Ballet is a world that asks for total buy-in early, and Farrell’s phrasing suggests she’s already internalized its bargain: your body becomes both instrument and proof of seriousness. “This is what I want to be” isn’t merely wanting to dance; it’s wanting to become the kind of person dance requires - composed, exacting, willing to be corrected, willing to disappear into form. The sentence quietly bridges the gap between childhood fascination and adult vocation without acknowledging how brutal that bridge can be.

Context sharpens it. Farrell’s career, famously entwined with George Balanchine and New York City Ballet, sits at the intersection of artistic exaltation and institutional power. “Chosen profession” reads, then, with a double edge: a declaration of agency inside an art form built on obedience. It works because it’s both romantic and transactional - the moment you fall in love, and the moment you sign away your life to keep it.