Laurence Olivier Quotes

I mean there's that awesome quote where Joanne Woodward said, 'Acting is like sex: you should do it, not talk about it.'

I do some acting. And there's a difference between "I do some acting" and "I'm an actor."

I love to act, I've always wanted to be an actor. I think that acting and fiction go nicely together - being able to visualize language as something you perform, not just something that's there on the page.

I really, specifically, love acting, and I think it's a really cool thing to be really indulgent and follow that.

I have some friends who are actors. I've watched them work. And I would say that of all the arts, acting is the most grueling, thankless. Never apologize for your work.

I have mainly been interested in acting. I think it's a great job, a fine way to live your life.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women mearly players.

People say, "Why is it that you love to act?" And you want to say, "Well, most of acting is sitting in your trailer, either bored or worried about the scene coming up." A lot of it is about things you don't really like, so it's a wonder why acting is such a huge draw, why everyone loves it so much.

I think acting came later in life when I went to college. I started out there. I wasn't a big star in the school plays or anything. I guess I just really liked stories. I was an English-literature major, and that's all about stories and narratives. Film and theater are very powerful storytelling mediums. You sit in a dark room and enter another world. I love that as a member of the audience, and I sort of wanted to get on the other side.

All the world's a stage.

You know, you should start to be in plays and things like that. Write some scripts. If you're an artist and you truly don't believe what you're spittin' then you need to really seriously be an actor then.

Acting is like an addiction - once you start, you can't stop.

I absolutely love being on stage. I live and breathe the stage, and nothing makes me happier, but to perform.

Actors, said Granny, witheringly. As if the world weren't full of enough history without inventing more.

I don't know what acting is, but I enjoy it. I think we ask too many questions of ourselves. We make too much importance of stuff. But I do say to actors when I have taught in classes, or when I sometimes do a talk to a group. I'll say, “If I never acted again, the world wouldn't stop, nor would it stop if I didn't stop acting. That's how important it is. I know it [seems] important when you're young. But I say, “Lighten up. Don't take it all so seriously.” All the gurus and teachers will take your money and run.

Acting is something that I've done since I was so young. I always felt - certainly as a teenager - really cynical about acting. I definitely didn't feel like it was something I wanted to do, and so I really took it for granted.

If you took acting away from me, I'd stop breathing.

I'm happiest when I'm acting, and I've dedicated my life to it. Still, as much as I love acting, at the end of the day, I want to be remembered as a great person, first, and as a great actor, second.

I don't think musicals are my thing. I'm not a big fan. Definitely have to get on the stage and do something like a straight play.

I became an actor because it was the only thing I could do. I didn't have any friends, I didn't fit in. But when I started acting everything in my life shifted and I felt happy.

I've always been into theater and movies. When I was in school, I did a monologue for my talent show. I would go to the local theater. I was always in dance. I was always performing. That was always my thing.

I love acting. I love what I do. I am absolutely filled every day with gratitude that I get to do it.

If I'm not good at acting, I'm not good at anything else.

All I knew how to do was to act. That's the only thing I had in my favor. That was the thing that propelled me forward.

Theater acting is an operation with a scalpel, movie acting is an operation with a laser