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
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
Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you—tripping on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as Leif the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and as I may say, the whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
In the long run, avoiding activity that might hurt causes more agony than acting, failing, and dealing with the pain.
—Unknown
One forgets too easily the difference between a man and his image, and that there is none between the sound of his voice on the screen and in real life.
—Robert Bresson (1907–99) French Film Director
She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
You must have this charm to reach the pinnacle. It is made of everything and of nothing, the striving will, the look, the walk, the proportions of the body sound of the voice, the ease of the gestures. It is not at all necessary to be handsome or to be pretty; all that is needful is charm.
—Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923) French Actress
He used this great, sad, motionless face to suggest various related things: a one-track mind near the track’s end of pure insanity; mulish imperturbability under the wildest of circumstances; how dead a human being can get and still be alive…
—James Agee (1909–55) American Journalist, Poet, Screenwriter, Film Critic
Acting on a good idea is better than just having a good idea.
—Robert Half
When he ran from a cop his transitions from accelerating walk to easy jog trot to brisk canter to headlong gallop to flogged-piston sprint…were as distinct and as soberly in order as an automatic gearshift.
—James Agee (1909–55) American Journalist, Poet, Screenwriter, Film Critic
She represents the un-vowed aspiration of the male human being, his potential infidelity—and infidelity of a very special kind, which would lead him to the opposite of his wife, to the “woman of wax” whom he could model at will, make and unmake in any way he wished, even unto death.
—Marguerite Duras (1914–96) French Novelist, Playwright
When you inhabit any of these three roles, you’re reacting to fear of victimhood, loss of control, or loss of purpose. You’re always looking outside yourself, to the people and circumstances of life, for a sense of safety, security, and sanity.
—David Emerald
Every actor in his heart believes everything bad that’s printed about him.
—Orson Welles (1915–85) American Film Director, Actor
It is not whether you really cry. It’s whether the audience thinks you are crying.
—Ingrid Bergman (1915–82) Swedish Actor
Acting is a question of absorbing other people’s personalities and adding some of your own experience.
—Paul Newman (1925–2008) American Actor, Philanthropist
I do not want actors and actresses to understand my plays. That is not necessary. If they will only pronounce the correct sounds I can guarantee the results.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Why, except as a means of livelihood, a man should desire to act on the stage when he has the whole world to act in, is not clear to me.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
It’s one of the tragic ironies of the theatre that only one man in it can count on steady work—the night watchman.
—Tallulah Bankhead (1902–68) American Actress
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.
—Jeanne Moreau (1928–2017) French Stage, Screen Actor, Singer
Someplace along the line the audience discovered you. In my case it was playing the Gipper.
—Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American Head of State
More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic.
—Uta Hagen (1919–2004) German-American Actress
They are, as it were, train-bearers in the pageant of life, and hold a glass up to humanity, frailer than itself. We see ourselves at second-hand in them: they show us all that we are, all that we wish to be, and all that we dread to be. What brings the resemblance nearer is, that, as they imitate us, we, in our turn, imitate them. There is no class of society whom so many persons regard with affection as actors.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
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
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
A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming.
—Jane Fonda (b.1937) American Actress, Political Activist
Acting doesn’t bring anything to a text. On the contrary, it detracts from it.
—Marguerite Duras (1914–96) French Novelist, Playwright
The basic essential of a great actor is that he loves himself in acting.
—Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) British Actor
I was born at the age of twelve on a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot.
—Judy Garland (1922–69) American Actress, Singer
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