Acting quotes
3.9K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside acting — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"Mighty cultures never - are almost never conquered. They crumble from within. And frankly, I think that a lot of Americans are acting like spoiled brats because everything that isn't working out perfectly every time."
"Acting is the only time when I truly maintain the spontaneity that I want to be present at all times."
"I've been planted here to be a vessel for acting... That's why I'm really taking any part, regardless of how complicated it's going to be."
"Acting serves as the quintessential social lubricant and a device for protecting our interests and gaining advantage in every aspect of life."
"Few rash of any modern nation have a proper sense of an aesthetical whole; they praise and blame by parts; they are charmed by passages. And who has greater reason to rejoice in this than actors, since the stage is ever but a patched and piecemeal matter?"
"We can be better, we can be wiser, we can be more kind. Yes we have to change. We have to grow up and stop acting like 10 years old. Yes there is much to do, much to see, much to go into."
"Empathy is at the heart of the actor's art."
"The work will stand, no matter what."
"All of us experience fear, but when we confront and acknowledge it, we are able to turn it into courage. Being courageous does not mean never being scared; it means acting as you know you must even though you are undeniably afraid."
"I don't have the desire to be the best standup in the UK but I do have the desire to be the best at everything else I do in terms of writing and acting."
"I never plan to stop acting, I take it very seriously."
"Whether he's doing great acting or not, you're seeing somebody who is in the tradition of a great actor. What he does with it, that's something else, but he's got it all. The talent, the instrument is there, that's why he has endured."
"Everything that you do is a challenge. And acting is just building up your concentration and being able to listen and to do the ridiculous."
"There's so much we can't express in our day-to-day interaction with people because it's considered inappropriate. And acting is all about being inappropriate."
"By acting as if I was not afraid, I gradually ceased to be afraid."
"The most important thing is to keep creating and following my inklings as they come into being and acting on them."
"I do some acting. And there's a difference between "I do some acting" and "I'm an actor.""
"Acting is bad acting if the actor himself gets emotional in the act of making the audience cry. The object is to make the audience cry, but not cry yourself. The emotion has to be inside the actor, not outside. If you stand there weeping and wailing, all your emotions will go down your shirt and nothing will go out to your audience. Audience control is really about the actor"
"The key to getting a reputation for being brilliant is actually being brilliant, not just acting like you are."
"Sometimes you're not supposed to enjoy it [acting]. You're supposed to cooperate with misery and proceed anyway. But what I do enjoy is a sense of well-being and just participating in life and life's turns."
