I don’t want to read about some of these actresses who are around today. They sound like my niece in Scarsdale. I love my niece in Scarsdale, but I won’t buy tickets to see her act.
—Vincent Price (1911–93) American Film Actor
Oh! it offends me to the soul to hear a robust periwig-pated fellow, tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.
—George Burns (1896–1996) American Comedian
If a person were to try stripping the disguises from actors while they play a scene upon stage, showing to the audience their real looks and the faces they were born with, would not such a one spoil the whole play ? And would not the spectators think he deserved to be driven out of the theatre with brickbats, as a drunken disturber ?.. Now what else is the whole life of mortals but a sort of comedy, in which the various actors, disguised by various costumes and masks, walk on and play each one his part, until the manager waves them off the stage ? Moreover, this manager frequently bids the same actor to go back in a different costume, so that he who has but lately played the king in scarlet now acts the flunkey in patched clothes. Thus all things are presented by shadows.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
I’m not handsome in the classical sense. The eyes droop, the mouth is crooked, the teeth aren’t straight, the voice sounds like a Mafioso pallbearer, but somehow it all works.
—Sylvester Stallone (b.1946) American Actor, Screenwriter, Director
Acting is a nice childish profession – pretending you’re someone else and, at the same time, selling yourself.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
Acting is a question of absorbing other people’s personalities and adding some of your own experience.
—Paul Newman (1925–2008) American Actor, Philanthropist
All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it’s possible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
We need to practice acting in spite of fear, in spite of doubt, in spite of worry, in spite of uncertainty, in spite of inconvenience, in spite of discomfort, and even to practice acting when we’re not in the mood to act.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Left eyebrow raised, right eyebrow raised.
—Roger Moore (1927–2017) English Actor
I believe that God felt sorry for actors so he created Hollywood to give them a place in the sun and a swimming pool. The price they had to pay was to surrender their talent.
—Cedric Hardwicke (1893–1964) English Stage, Film Actor
You must be what it is that you’re seeking. This is a universe of attraction and energy. You can’t have a desire to attract a mate who’s confident, generous, non-judgmental, and gentle, and expect that desire to be manifested if you’re thinking and acting in nonconfident, selfish, judgmental, or arrogant ways…
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
Show me a great actor and I’ll show you a lousy husband. Show me a great actress, and you’ve seen the devil.
—W. C. Fields (1880–1946) American Actor, Comedian, Writer
It isn’t enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
Actors die so loud.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
Actors are the only honest hypocrites. Their life is a voluntary dream; and the height of their ambition is to be beside themselves. They wear the livery of other men’s fortunes: their very thoughts are not their own.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Stage charm guarantees in advance an actor’s hold on the audience, it helps him to carry over to large numbers of people his creative purposes. It enhances his roles and his art. Yet it is of utmost importance that he use this precious gift with prudence, wisdom, and modesty. It is a great shame when he does not realize this and goes on to exploit, to play on his ability to charm.
—Constantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
I am acquainted with no immaterial sensuality so delightful as good acting.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Unless the theatre can ennoble you, make you a better person, you should flee from it.
—Constantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
When an actor has money, he doesn’t send letters, but telegrams.
—Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian Short-Story Writer
If you give an audience a chance they will do half your acting for you.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
You spend all your life trying to do something they put people in asylums for.
—Jane Fonda (b.1937) American Actress, Political Activist
The most difficult character in comedy is that of a fool, and he must be no simpleton who plays the part.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
They are the only honest hypocrites, their life is a voluntary dream, a studied madness.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
In the long run, avoiding activity that might hurt causes more agony than acting, failing, and dealing with the pain.
—Unknown
Acting is the most minor of gifts and not a very high-class way to earn a living. After all, Shirley Temple could do it at the age of four.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.
—Cynthia Heimel (1947–2018) American Humor Columnist, Feminist
Every time I get a script it’s a matter of trying to know what I could do with it. I see colors, imagery. It has to have a smell. It’s like falling in love. You can’t give a reason why.
—Paul Newman (1925–2008) American Actor, Philanthropist
A man who strains himself on the stage is bound, if he is any good, to strain all the people sitting in the stalls.
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) German Poet, Playwright, Theater Personality
Ah just act the way ah feel.
—Elvis Presley (1935–77) American Musician, Singer, Songwriter, Actor
I have to act to live.
—Laurence Olivier (1907–89) English Actor, Producer, Director
Acting is the perfect idiot’s profession.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
Too caustic? To hell with the cost. If it’s a good picture, we’ll make it anyway.
—Samuel Goldwyn (1879–1974) Polish-born American Film Producer, Businessperson
Do not try to push your way through to the front ranks of your profession; do not run after distinctions and rewards; but do your utmost to find an entry into the world of beauty.
—Constantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
In civilized life, where the happiness and indeed almost the existence of man, depends on the opinion of his fellow men. He is constantly acting a studied part.
—Washington Irving (1783–1859) American Essayist, Biographer, Historian
I was born at the age of twelve on a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot.
—Judy Garland (1922–69) American Actress, Singer
You name it and I’ve done it. I’d like to say I did it my way. But that line, I’m afraid, belongs to someone else.
—Sammy Davis, Jr. (1925–90) American Singer, Musician, Dancer, Actor
To see him act is like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
It is not whether you really cry. It’s whether the audience thinks you are crying.
—Ingrid Bergman (1915–82) Swedish Actor
Every actor in his heart believes everything bad that’s printed about him.
—Orson Welles (1915–85) American Film Director, Actor
If you took acting away from me, I’d stop breathing.
—Ingrid Bergman (1915–82) Swedish Actor
Life is like a play: it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
No one is truly free, they are a slave to wealth, fortune, the law, or other people restraining them from acting according to their will.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
The essence of intelligence is skill in extracting meaning from everyday experience.
—Unknown
And because we are creatures of habit, we must practice. I urge you to practice acting in spite of fear, practice acting in spite of inconvenience, practice acting in spite of discomfort, and practice acting even when you’re not in the mood.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
When I first went into the movies Lionel Barrymore played my grandfather. Later he played my father and finally my husband. If he had lived, I’m sure I would have played his mother. That’s the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older.
—Lillian Gish (1896–1993) American Actress
The audience is not the least important actor in the play, and if it will not do its allotted share the play falls to pieces.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
It’s easy to direct while acting; there’s one less person to argue with.
—Roman Polanski (b.1933) French Film Director, Film Producer, Actor, Screenwriter
Acting is the least mysterious of all crafts. Whenever we want something from somebody or when we want to hide something or pretend, we’re acting. Most people do it all day long.
—Marlon Brando (1924–2004) American Film, Stage Actor
Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts he does not hide; he exposes himself.
—Rodney Dangerfield (1921–2004) American Comedian, TV Personality, Actor