Tango Quotes

“Dancing is creating a sculpture that is visible only for a moment.”
― Erol Ozan

“We dance to seduce ourselves. To fall in love with ourselves. When we dance with another, we manifest the very thing we love about ourselves so that they may see it and love us too.”
― Kamand Kojouri

“I flush,and my inner goddess grabs a rose between her teeth and starts to tango.”
― E.L. James, Fifty Shades Darker

“Caution not spirit, let it roam wild; for in that natural state dance embraces divine frequency.”
― Shah Asad Rizvi

“Don't breathe to survive; dance and feel alive.”
― Shah Asad Rizvi

“Life is an affair of mystery; shared with companions of music, dance and poetry.”
― Shah Asad Rizvi

“Through synergy of intellect, artistry and grace came into existence the blessing of a dancer.”
― Shah Asad Rizvi

“التانغو تعبّر بشكل صائب عن الصفة الأساسیة لشخصیة الأرجنتیني: المرارة، النوستالجیا، النزوع إلى التأمل، خیبة الأمل، الأسى”
― Ernesto Sábato, The Writer in the Catastrophe of Our Time

“Sometimes, I recall the little things in life that make the journey more joyful, like the cheerful guy playing the accordion in Paris, on the way to Versailles. Of course everyone has their own perspective, but I believe that music does indeed provide more substance to life, so I dare imagine that one day I could walk through life as in a movie scene, with a soundtrack accompanying and enriching my every emotion, slowly dancing a tango towards one of those "and then they lived happily ever after" endings.”
― Virgil Kalyana Mittata Iordache

“Tango is a truth drug. It lays bare your problems and your complexes, but also the strengths you hide from others so as not to vex them. It shows what a couple can be for each other, how they can listen to each other. People who only want to listen to themselves will hate tango.”
― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop

“Tango is where the passion and love lasts forever.”
― Efrat Cybulkiewicz

“OK! Let's get started," Mariela announced brightly. "Now, can anyone tell me the meaning of 'tango'--the actual word?"

Helen, of course, knew. "In Latin, it means 'I touch."

Mariela nodded emphatically. "'I touch.' Or 'I play.' As in playing an instrument only here our instrument is ourselves," Mariela paused, allowing this insight to sink in. "And it means, 'I touch. I touch my partner in embrace," Dan and Mariela faced each other in an opening stance, "also called an abrazo--" and danced a simple eight step.

"And I touch my inner life. I touch the core of my essence. Tango is not just learning or following steps."

"It's improvisation," Barry said in a deep baritone.

"That's right. There's a saying that tango is a 'sad thought danced.' But that's only part of it. It's touching the sadness in you, the pain, yes--but also the joy, the humor, the everything life has. It's touching everything.”
― Jennifer Vandever, American Tango

“Burdened no more is soul for whom life flows through dance like breath.”
― Shah Asad Rizvi

“Spirit is a child, the tune of dancing feet its lullaby.”
― Shah Asad Rizvi

“Their dancing was simple and expert and reminded her of something one of her art teachers told her about bad artists taking something simple and making it seem complicated while good artists took something very complex and made it seem simple. The couple was an illustration of this rule; the dance seemed barely to qualify for the term--in essence they seemed merely to be walking, slowly in lockstep. They would stop occasionally, the woman led into a simple ocho and then resume their slow, meditative procession. They seemed, to Rosalind's untrained eye, to be under a spell.”
― Jennifer Vandever, American Tango

“Rosalind knew she was right, knew there was something even deeper that prevented her from going back. Since she began something had always bothered her about tango: she still had no idea how people knew what the hell they were doing. The dance had no agreed upon formula, no designated rules, just collectively shared sequences that a leader could use interchangeably. It was a conversation, not a speech. This was what was so allegedly wonderful about it: it was an improvisation, a negotiation between two people. No choreography, no predetermined pattern, just endless unpredictable new formations. One couldn't dominate the other. It was--if not historically, at least ideally--a dance of equals. This struck her a lovely in principle and crazy-making in practice. How do you know what to do? "The man will lead you," her teachers told her. What if his lead doesn't make sense? "It will. Practice," Mariela had instructed brightly, unhelpfully.”
― Jennifer Vandever, American Tango

“We tangoed every night, while I was blinded by the scent of you, I’m Frankie Slade, shoot my head, you held me back.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Letter 19

“Tango dansını kökenine kadar araştırdım, tarihçesini okudum. (...) Buenos Aires’te çıktığını biliyor muydunuz? Ve ilk çıktığında sadece genelevlerde yapıldığını? Gangster dansıymış. (...) Tangoda roller önceden belirlenmiştir. Erkek ve kadın ne yapacağını çok iyi bilir. Erkek her zaman kadını yönetir. Kadını yönlendiren, ona komut veren, kendine çeken, geri iten, döndüren, uzağa fırlatan, atan, tutan hep erkektir... kısacası, erkek maçoluğun alasını yapar. Kadın sadece bunları izler. Adamın ayaklarını, adımlarını, hareketlerini izler. Kendini ona bırakır. Tangoyu kadınlar bu yüzden seviyor zaten. (...) Kadınlar böyle bir şeyi asla itiraf etmek istemezler; özgürlüklerine ve bağımsızlıklarına düşkün gibi görünürler ama içten içe hükmedilmek hoşlarına gider.”
― Trevanian, Death Dance: Suspenseful Stories of the Dance Macabre

“The madness of our endless minds
bewitched in magic...

(fragment from Our last tango, chapter Passion)”
― Claudia Pavel, The odyssey of my lost thoughts

“the ecstasy of our thoughts lured in passion
that was our romance caught in tango
and it shall always remain alive...

(fragment from Our last tango, chapter Passion)”
― Claudia Pavel, The odyssey of my lost thoughts

“If David Luís had known what the future had in store for his son, he would've named him anything else—anything.”
― David Soto Jr., The Namesake of David Alonzo

“Le tango est à nous. Rappelle-toi ça, rappelle-toi d'où il vient. Pour chaque personne qui connaît ses racines, il y en a cent qui ne les connaissent pas. Et peut-être qu'un jour ceux qui savent auront tous disparu. Mais le secret vivra toujours, son coeur bat dans les percussions et dans son rythme syncopé.”
― Carolina De Robertis, The Gods of Tango

“It takes two to tango, but is alway takes one person to ask another to dance. Don’t sit and wait.”
― Hugo Macdonald, How to Live in the City

“Танго — це пігулка правди. Воно оголює ваші проблеми й ваші комплекси, але ж і ваші сильні сторони, які ви ховаєте від інших, щоб не турбувати їх. Воно показує, хто ви в парі одне для одного, як ви вмієте слухати одне одного. Люди, котрі хочуть слухати тільки себе, зненавидять танго.”
― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop

“It takes two to tango, but it always takes one person to ask another to dance. Don’t sit and wait.”
― Hugo Macdonald, How to Live in the City

“Well, we are teaching tomato to tango - quite the colorful challenge! ”
― Dipti Dhakul

“I like Tango. Why? People who tango don’t do it from the place of ego. They do not come to show off like people who twerk. My point is, finding people in the truth and integrity of their sensuality is very rare. There’s so much performative sensuality today and it’s empty.”
― Lebo Grand

“I persist until you conjure more images that work their way into my dreams, just as the music had seeped through the cracks of sorrow and oppression in the walls of the conventillos, the tenement houses full of people who had left their countries and taken the long journey to Argentina, looking for a dream. El tango – music born of pain, desire, and longing for what had been left behind.”
― Linda Walsh, At Half-Light: A Story of Tango and Memory

“Tanto, tanto como fuiste mío, y hoy te busto y no te encuentro”
― Julio Cortázar, Bestiario

“It takes two to tango and one to let go.”
― Dominic Riccitello