If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you open to my ideas
John CleeseRead
But then acting is all about faking. We're all very good at faking things that we have no competence with.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Acting involves pretending, and people often excel at faking skills or emotions they don't truly possess.
This quote by John Cleese highlights the irony of acting and human behavior, where individuals can convincingly portray feelings or abilities they do not genuinely have. It suggests that faking is a ubiquitous aspect of human experience, not just in acting but in various facets of life, revealing a deeper commentary on authenticity and pretense in our interactions.
Themes
ActingFakingAuthenticityPretenseHuman Behavior
In practice
Example use cases
During a drama workshop, I shared this quote to encourage my classmates to explore their genuine emotions rather than just mimic characters.
More from John Cleese
All quotes βBecause, as we all know, itβs easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And itβs also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that weβre not so sure about.
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If you are leaping a ravine, the moment of takeoff is a bad time to be considering alternative strategies.
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In Britain, girls seem to be either bright or attractive. In America, that's not the case. They're both.
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I used to desire many, many things, but now I have just one desire, and that's to get rid of all my other desires.
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When the target audience is American teenage kids, you can have problems. My generation prized really fine acting and writing. Sometimes you have to go back to the basic principles which underpin great visual comedy.
John CleeseRead
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