Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I have to act to live.
Life is enthusiasm, zest.
Without acting, I cannot breathe.
We ape, we mimic, we mock. We act.
You think you're an artist; prove it
Acting, is not a profession for adults.
Acting is an everlasting search for truth.
Scratch an actor and you'll find an actor.
Use your weaknesses; aspire to the strength.
If you're an artist, you've got to prove it.
Lead the audience by the nose to the thought.
Have a very good reason for everything you do.
A man's prime interest in life must be his work.
The humility to prepare and the self-confidence to bring it off.
Shakespeare - The nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God.
Above all, you must remain open and fresh and alive to any new idea.
What is acting but lying and what is good lying but convincing lying?
I take a simple view of life: keep your eyes open and get on with it.
The actor should be able to create the universe in the palm of his hand.
If he was lost for a moment, he would dive straight back into its honey.
Don't be afraid to be outrageous; the critics will shoot you down anyway.
I suppose, unconsciously, I used all my wives to further my journey up the ladder.
Autograph-hunting is the most unattractive manifestation of sex-starved curiosity.
Nine books have been written about me, and there's not a word of truth in any of them.
Acting is a masochistic form of exhibitionism. It is not quite the occupation of an adult.
Acting is illusion, as much illusion as magic is - and not so much a matter of being real.
The art of persuasion. The actor persuades himself, first, and through himself, the audience.
When you're a young man, Macbeth is a character part. When you're older, it's a straight part.
We used to have actresses trying to become stars; now we have stars trying to become actresses.
Don't waste your time striving for perfection; instead, strive for excellence - doing your best.
No matter how well you perform, there's always somebody of intelligent opinion who thinks it's lousy.
I can't think I've ever loved anybody quite as much... My mother was my life, really; she was my entire world.
I don't know what is better than the work that is given to the actor-to teach the human heart the knowledge of itself.
I don't know what is better than the work that is given to the actor - to teach the human heart the knowledge of itself.
Art is a little bit larger than life - it's an exhalation of life and I think you probably need a little touch of madness.
Work is life for me, it is the only point of life - and with it there is almost religious belief that service is everything.
We have all, at one time or another, been performers, and many of us still are - politicians, playboys, cardinals and kings.
I should be soaring away with my head tilted slightly toward the gods, feeding on the caviar of Shakespeare. An actor must act.
Surely we have always acted; it is an instinct inherent in all of us. Some of us are better at it than others, but we all do it.
If I wasn't an actor, I think I'd have gone mad. You have to have extra voltage, some extra temperament to reach certain heights.
I often think that could we creep behind the actor's eyes, we would find an attic of forgotten toys and a copy of the Domesday Book.
I believe in the theater; I believe in it as the first glamorizer of thought. It restores dramatic dynamics and their relations to life size.
I'm rather bored by the subject - meaning me. It's a sort of a yoke, but at times you know, a yoke is a kind of comfort. And it's always there.
My stage successes have provided me with the greatest moments outside myself, my film successes the best moments, professionally, within myself.
It took me two years to walk around a chair with ease; it took me another two years to learn how to laugh onstage - and I had to learn everything.
[May 1958, on playing Macbeth at age 30 and age 48] When you're a young man, Macbeth is a character part. When you're older, it's a straight part.
Nobody is going to pretend that I am younger than I am. Apart from anything else, it is in the papers all the damn time - every time I have a birthday.
I believe that in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, a great theater is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture.
What is the main problem of the actor? It is to keep the audience awake, and not let them go to sleep, then wake up and go home feeling they've wasted their money.
'Richard III' is a really difficult play to film - it's involved, often obscure. I felt it absolutely necessary to do more simplification than I've ever done before.