Competitions are a business, first and foremost.
— Abby Lee Miller
I just was never into performing. It's just hard work. It's hard work.
I was always interested in choreography - in making people think and feel something.
When you walk into my classroom, I'm going to give it to you straight, just like in the real world, because that's the only way to prepare you for the real world.
My mother taught children to love to dance.
I think any activity you have your kids in, you're all trying to live vicariously through them. And you're jealous of the kid that's naturally more talented or has the facility, the body, the genes, or the God-given talent. People get jealous of that.
I create stars.
I try to be vegan... I really, really try. I don't eat any red meat, and the whole animal thing really upsets me, so I've tried.
You always have to remember that if you say something negative, it's going to come back to haunt you.
I'm not talent. Not considered 'talent' by Lifetime. I'd like to say I'm their savior, but that would be cocky.
I want to retire and want to be able to live out my days financially secure. That's what everyone wants.
I made lots of mistakes - the number one mistake being trusting other people with my money.
I was never focused on me, me, me all the time. I was always focused on somebody else.
I had a PET scan, and it was cleared. Not one cell of cancer after three rounds of chemo. But I still had seven more just for safety, which was stupid. I should have just worked on therapy.
I like to work.
I don't want to hear the word 'can't.'
I was told that someone on Facebook said something 'horrible' about me. Who cares? At least they're watching the show.
So many people think of me as a character on TV, but first and foremost, my passion is teaching dance and creating employable, working dancers.
Like it or not, there are a lot of dance teachers in this country who respect me, whether they personally like me or not.
For the general public or psychos on Facebook, for everyone who's made one negative comment about me, I've probably gotten 250-300 positive comments.
I have no problem yelling at anybody's kid - free of charge!
It takes me about two hours to run into Target. People always want a picture. They hem and haw, and they can't spit the words out, so they waste about five minutes of my time just standing there getting ready for a picture. Just do it!
If I could have worked from the time I was born until I was 18 and never had to work again, I would have done it.
When I tell a child something the first time, I'm nice. The 15th time, I start to get aggravated.
I'm a can-do girl.
I make decisions all day, so it's nice for a woman like me to go to dinner and have the man take the menu and say, 'Let me order.' Other women would be offended by that, but I'm like, 'Good. Because I can't make one more decision today.' I want someone to rub my feet without being asked.
According to Lifetime, I don't know anything about TV.
I have goals.
I have spent so much time and so much energy making other people's children stars.
I didn't have any children of my own.
I don't want flowers or candy or anything like that. I just want somebody to say, 'Wow, you've done a great job.'
I rely on other people every day of my life.
I was raised to be independent.
I don't like people going behind my back.
I like to choreograph and create and design the costumes and do it all and then step back and watch it and then move on to the next project.
I never wanted to perform and never proclaimed myself to be a performer.
My success rate speaks for itself.
I teach children to be winners.
Everybody wants to be me. What can I say?
I've taken so many kids out of Pittsburgh and onto the great white way in New York City right into a Broadway show.
Doing a show for three weeks is nothing like doing a show for seven seasons.
I'm an only child.
I've been invited to do 'Dancing With the Stars' three times, but Lifetime said no.
I've always put everybody else's child first before my own health, before my own outfit, before my own time frame.
I have dreams, and I want to see them come to fruition.
How does a nice Catholic girl end up going to prison for a year? It's crazy. I've made mistakes. I have to pay for those mistakes.
I always thought I would die of cancer because my mom and my dad both died of cancer. My dad died of osteocancer, and my mom died of colon cancer.
I'm not a bad person.
I just have always felt that people don't change, circumstances change.
I've been talked about by a lot better people than the general public.
