Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one
The thing that makes you say, "I want to do something" - that is the beginning of talent.
Actors need a kind of aggression, a kind of inner force. Don't be only one-sided, sweet, nice, good. Get rid of being average. Find the killer in you.
Acting is in everything but the words.
The best author is a dead author, because he's out of your way and you own the play. Take what he has given you and use it for what you need.
Don’t use your conscious past. Use your creative imagination to create a past that belongs to your character. I don’t want you to be stuck with your own life. It’s too little.
You cannot afford to confine your studies to the classroom. The universe and all of history is your classroom.
You will only fail to learn if you do not learn from failing.
Your job as actors is to understand the size of what you say, to understand what's beneath the word.
The imagination is closer to the actor than real life-more agreeable, more comfortable.
You have to do something. If you do something, you become somebody. Even a daffodil does something, has a profession. It gives off scent, professionally.
Sometimes life beats down and crushes the soul, and art reminds you that you have one
You should want to act only because you want to be led to something bigger in life.
No actor is a success unless he feels inside himself, as long as he lives, that he is good.
...actors today think that being true is being nice, or being some other "set" thing. That is not the truth. That is your miserable habit of boring everybody to death.
You will fail. That's great. Here's a secret for you - that's the only way you can learn. Learning has to cost you something. If you fail but learn something from your failure, you will grow.
When you most succeed, you do so by seeming not to act at all.
You'll never really be great unless you aim high.
You'll begin to act when you can forget your technique - when it is so securely inside you that you need not call upon it consciously.
The actor must be full of passion. If he's too cool he's better off as the manager of a company, not someone who appears on the stage.
If you can't take both sides, it means you can only play yourself.
Emotions aren't doable. Actions are doable, and if you do them correctly, they prompt the feelings.
Acting is reacting.
Acting can be the healthiest profession in the world, because it allows you to do things you can't do in real life. It allows you to understand more than just what life provides you.
