Remember: there are no small parts, only small actors.
—Konstantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
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 Comedian, Actor, Writer
They are the only honest hypocrites, their life is a voluntary dream, a studied madness.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Unless the theatre can ennoble you, make you a better person, you should flee from it.
—Konstantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
It is with some violence to the imagination that we conceive of an actor belonging to the relations of private life, so closely do we identify these persons in our mind with the characters they assume upon the stage.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
Ah just act the way ah feel.
—Elvis Presley (1935–77) American Musician, Singer, Songwriter, Actor
A woman in agony of spirit might turn her head just so; a man in deep humiliation probably would wring his hands in such a way. From straws like these, drawn from completely different sources, the fabric of a character may be built.
—Eleanor Robson Belmont (1879–1979) American Actress, Philanthropist
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 an actor has money, he doesn’t send letters, but telegrams.
—Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian Short-Story Writer
Every actor in his heart believes everything bad that’s printed about him.
—Orson Welles (1915–85) American Film Director, Actor
Acting doesn’t bring anything to a text. On the contrary, it detracts from it.
—Marguerite Duras (1914–96) French Novelist, Playwright
A true priest is aware of the presence of the altar during every moment that he is conducting a service. It is exactly the same way that a true artist should react to the stage all the time he is in the theater. An actor who is incapable of this feeling will never be a true artist.
—Konstantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
Acting provides the fulfillment of never being fulfilled. You’re never as good as you’d like to be. So there’s always something to hope for.
—Glenda Jackson (1936–2023) British Actress, Politician
The goal of every culture is to decay through over-civilization; the factors of decadence,—luxury, skepticism, weariness and superstition,—are constant. The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
I am acquainted with no immaterial sensuality so delightful as good acting.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
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
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
Acting is a question of absorbing other people’s personalities and adding some of your own experience.
—Paul Newman (1925–2008) American Actor, Philanthropist
An actor should take lessons from the painter and the sculptor. Not only should he make attitude his study, but he should highly develop his mind by an assiduous study of the best writers, ancient and modern, which will enable him not only to understand his parts, but to communicate a nobler coloring to his manners and mien.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
I have to act to live.
—Laurence Olivier (1907–89) English Actor, Producer, Director
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women in it merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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
We must overact our part in some measure, in order to produce any effect at all.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
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.
—Konstantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
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 Entertainer, Singer, Dancer
An actor rides in a bus or railroad train; he sees a movement and applies it to a new role. The whole garment in which the actor hides himself is made of small externals of observation fitted to his conception of a role.
—Eleanor Robson Belmont (1879–1979) American Actress, Philanthropist
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Remember this practical piece of advice: Never come into the theatre with mud on your feet. Leave your dust and dirt outside. Check your little worries, squabbles, petty difficulties with your outside clothing—all the things that ruin your life and draw your attention away from your art—at the door.
—Konstantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
It’s a business you go into because you’re an egocentric. It’s a very embarrassing profession.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
A good actor must never be in love with anyone but himself.
—Jean Anouilh (1910–87) French Dramatist
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