Laurence Olivier Quotes

It's my deepest interest as an actor: I love discovering how human beings work, how their flaws reveal themselves - how to learn and grow from that - and how characters teach me things as a woman and as a parent.

Few of us are granted the grace to know ourselves, and until we do, maybe the best we can do is be consistent.

To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person.

The ideal way to approach a character is to find something in yourself that relates in some way.

All of us want something in life, all of us have flaws, and all of us have strengths. So, I always try to discover those things in a character and then try to expose it in one way or another.

I think acting can bring you closer to yourself and help you understand other people.

I wasn't smart enough to read relationship books when I was coming up. I learned everything the hard way.

For me, becoming a man had a lot to do with learning communication, and I learned about that by acting.

I want to explore more sides of humanity and myself. That's what acting is about.

But what do we know of the heart nearest to our own? What do we know of our own heart?

I've done teaching and things like that because if you're acting, you're becoming other human beings, and you need to have time to find who you are as well.

They say that people teach what they need to learn. By adopting the role of happiness teacher, if only for myself, I was trying to find the method to conquer my particular faults and limitations.

I'm now learning how to distinguish when I'm acting and when I'm not acting - offstage as well as onstage.

You learn stuff from every character you play about the human condition that can be quite enlightening.

Although men are accused of not knowing their weakness, yet perhaps as few know their strength.

I learned so much about life and other human beings - then about myself.

What I use when I'm acting comes from what I learn about myself.

Anybody can act. Correction. Anybody can act if they know their own weaknesses.

To me, acting used to be just, 'Get my face out there, get girls, make a little bit of money, make my mom proud.' It was just like sports. But there were moments in 'Moonlight' that I really felt like I had to know why he is the way he is. Or just people in general - why this person walks around with a frown on their face instead of a smile.

Going to drama school was the start of my journey of discovery and getting to know myself.

Read not books alone, but men, and amongst them chiefly thyself.

He who recites dramatic works makes discoveries about his own character.

A talent is formed in stillness, a character in the world's torrent.

I started to study, because I knew I had to learn a lot about myself as an actor; you can't act the same as you did as a child.

Ninety per cent of the world's woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves - so how can we know anyone else?