Explore Quotes on Acting

If you believe that man is inherently flawed-what religious people call 'original sin'-it follows that man, if left to his own devices, will tend towards ego-driven disharmony. Traditionalist conservatives know that absent the restraining hand of religion, tradition, or the state, there is nothing to prevent human beings from acting in ways contrary to their own best interests, or those of the community.

And to Shakespeare I owe my vision of the world as a theater, wherein all humans are acting out their parts.

I really enjoy acting. At home I can't even finish a sentence, and here I am reading these wonderful lines. I think it must be every housewife's dream, to be an actress part-time.

Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.

You must always steal, but only from the best people. Steal any trick that looks worthwhile. If you see Vivien Leigh or Robert DeNiro or Meryl Streep do something stunningly effective, and you can analyze how he or she did it, then pinch it. Because you can be sure that they stole it in the first place.

Half of the acting I do is actually done by the hair.

I'm too passionate about my work...Acting takes not only concentration, it takes creativity; it takes... your soul.

It's hard to act in the morning. The muse isn't even awake.

Overacting is a self-indulgence, while underacting comes either through a lack of talent or a lack of courage.

(Acting) certainly comes-100 percent-from the need to be loved. Any actor who says this isn't true is lying.

General MacArthur told me, "You represent the American serviceman better than the American serviceman himself."

I take acting very seriously. I put everything I have and know into it.

Acting has been my lover and best friend. My confidant and my tormentor. It has given me support and broken my heart and mended it.

I don't think of myself as a star. An actress is nothing remarkable.

Acting for me was the gospel, the love of the spoken word.

A lot of acting is private time.

Being pigeonholed is the death of all actors.

Singers come and go, but if you're a good actor, you can last a long time.

The key to acting with integrity is to simply stop playing the game.

I'll keep on acting 'til they wipe the drool. I like the business. I like to do different parts and diverse characters. I haven't lost my enthusiasm yet!

I've always remembered something Sanford Meisner, my acting teacher, told us. When you create a character, it's like making a chair, except instead of making someting out of wood, you make it out of yourself. That's the actor's craft - using yourself to create a character.