Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.
—James Maitland Stewart (1908–97) American Film Actor
The person who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
It was a good thing to have a couple of thousand people all rigid and frozen together, in the palm of one’s hand.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Every crowd has a silver lining.
—P. T. Barnum (1810–91) American Businessperson, Entertainer
PIANO, n. A parlor utensil for subduing the impenitent visitor. It is operated by pressing the keys of the machine and the spirits of the audience.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
I have no idea what the audience makes of me.
—Keith Richards (b.1943) English Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Actor
In the world’s audience hall, the simple blade of grass sits on the same carpet with the sunbeams, and the stars of midnight.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
This whole creation is essentially subjective, and the dream is the theater where the dreamer is at once: scene, actor, prompter, stage manager, author, audience, and critic.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
To have great poets, there must be great audiences too.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
The only way to win audiences is to tell people about the life and death of Christ. Every other approach is a waste.
—Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) American Catholic Religious Leader, Theologian
Applause that comes thundering with such force you might think the audience merely suffers the music as an excuse for its ovations.
—Greil Marcus (b.1945) American Music Journalist, Cultural Critic
There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus and upset the convictions and debauch the emotions of an audience not practiced in the tricks and delusions of oratory
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
If you want an audience start a fight.
—Irish Proverb
If it’s a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on.
—Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) British-born American Film Director, Film Producer
At male strip shows, it is still the women that we watch, the audience of women and their eager faces. They are more obscene than if they were dancing naked themselves.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
Standing ovations have become far too commonplace. What we need are ovations where the audience members all punch and kick one another.
—George Carlin (1937–2008) American Stand-up Comedian
Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.
—Rebecca West (1892–1983) English Author, Journalist, Literary Critic
I never failed to convince an audience that the best thing they could do was to go away.
—Thomas Love Peacock (1785–1866) English Satirist, Novelist, Author
Not content to have the audience in the palm of his hand, he goes one further and clinches his fist.
—Kenneth Tynan (1927–80) English Theatre Critic, Writer
The great orator always shows a dash of contempt for the opinions of his audience
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
An audience is always warming but it must never be necessary to your work.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
When the audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what you’ve written.
—Stephen Sondheim (b.1930) American Musician, Composer, Songwriter
Economics is a subject profoundly conducive to cliche, resonant with boredom. On few topics is an American audience so practiced in turning off its ears and minds. And none can say that the response is ill advised.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
Lead the audience by the nose to the thought.
—Laurence Olivier (1907–89) English Actor, Producer, Director
Well, all the plays that I was trying to write were plays that would grab an audience by the throat and not release them, rather than presenting an emotion which you could observe and walk away from.
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
An audience is never wrong. An individual member of it may be an imbecile, but a thousand imbeciles together in the dark—that is critical genius.
—Billy Wilder (1906–2002) American Filmmaker
I’ve spent several years in Hollywood, and I still think the movie heroes are in the audience.
—Wilson Mizner (1876–1933) American Playwright, Entrepreneur
Condense some daily experience into a glowing symbol and an audience is electrified.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I try to bring the audience’s own drama – tears and laughter they know about – to them.
—Judy Garland (1922–69) American Actress, Singer
The director is simply the audience. So the terrible burden of the director is to take the place of that yawning vacuum, to be the audience and to select from what happens during the day which movement shall be a disaster and which a gala night. His job is to preside over accidents.
—Orson Welles (1915–85) American Film Director, Actor