You've got to keep fighting; you've got to risk your life every six months to stay alive.
Elia KazanRead
Very often the Group actor is a critic when he's acting and an actor when he's criticizing.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the dual roles people often play in society, switching between being participants and commentators.
Elia Kazan's quote suggests that individuals tend to adopt different perspectives depending on their contextβacting as contributors in one instance and as critics in another. This duality reflects the complexity of human behavior, where one's role can shift based on circumstances, highlighting the interplay between action and observation in social dynamics.
In practice
In a discussion about teamwork, this quote can serve to illustrate how members may comment from different perspectives.
You've got to keep fighting; you've got to risk your life every six months to stay alive.
Acting... was the biggest charge I ever had. What other artist has it so good? Approval so quick?
I've come to believe that everything worth achieving is beyond one's capacity - or seems so at first. The thing is to persist, not back off, fight your fight, pay your dues, and carry on. Effort is all; continue and you may get there despite everything.
A good director's not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do.
To be a member of the Communist Party is to have a taste of the police state. It is a diluted taste but it is bitter and unforgettable.
I've lost many of my best friends... I'm going to satisfy myself now, not the critics, not even my friends.
The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace, The prurient ape's defiling touch: And do you like the human race? No, not much.
Philosophers there are who try to make themselves believe that this life is happy; but they believe it only while they are saying it, and never yet produced conviction in a single mind.
What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.
One individual may die for an idea, but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives.
Our allegiance is to the principles always, and not to the persons. Persons are but the embodiments, the illustrations of the principles. If the principles are there, the persons will come by the thousands and millions. If the principle is safe, persons like Buddha will be born by the hundreds and thousands. But if the principle is lost and forgotten and the whole of national life tries to cling round a so-called historical person, woe unto that religion, danger unto that religion!
We must recognize what in our accepted tradition is damaging to our fate and dignity-and shape our lives accordingly.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.