The Art of Acting Quotes

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.

The thing that makes you say, "I want to do something" - that is the beginning of talent.

Acting is in everything but the words.

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.

You will only fail to learn if you do not learn from failing.

You cannot afford to confine your studies to the classroom. The universe and all of history is your classroom.

Your job as actors is to understand the size of what you say, to understand what's beneath the word.

Emotions aren't doable. Actions are doable, and if you do them correctly, they prompt the feelings.

Tell yourself that the world is outside, that it's not to be hidden from you, that you are going to thrust yourself forward and be relaxed in the world. You have chosen a field where you're going to be hurt to the blood. But to retreat from the pain is 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 have to understand your best. Your best isn't Barrymore's best or Olivier's best or my best, but your own. Every person has his norm. And in that norm every person is a star. Olivier could stand on his head and still not be you. Only you can be you. What a privilege! Nobody can reach what you can if you do it. So do it. We need your best, your voice, your body. We don't need for you to imitate anybody, because that would be second best. And second best is no better than your worst.

No actor is a success unless he feels inside himself, as long as he lives, that he is good.

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.