Time & Perspective Quote by Twyla Tharp

Ambition, in Tharp's telling, isn’t a cute personality trait; it’s a job description. She frames her early drive in the blunt, almost American idiom of self-mandate: “I had to.” Not “I wanted to,” not “I dreamed of.” It reads like compulsion and contract at once, the kind of internal ultimatum that turns art into logistics: show up, build the work, keep moving.

The phrase “make an impact on history” carries a faint whiff of grandiosity, and Tharp doesn’t apologize for it. That’s the point. Dance is an art form that evaporates the moment it’s performed, leaving reputation, notation, and rumor to do the afterlife work. Her insistence on being “the greatest choreographer of my time” is less ego than defensive strategy against disappearance: if your medium is temporary, you aim for permanence through volume, rigor, and unmistakable signature.

Then comes the pivot that makes the quote land: “Posterity deals with us however it sees fit.” It’s a cold admission of powerlessness, the mature counterweight to youthful mission-talk. She can control the labor, not the verdict. “20 years of my best shot” is a wonderfully unromantic unit of measure, turning legacy into a timed effort rather than a mystical destiny. Subtext: the only honest currency artists can spend is sustained work, and even that buys you, at best, a fighting chance at being remembered.