By the time an actor knows how to act any sort of part he is often too — Acting

"There are some actors today full of their own importance. They forget that years ago actors were not even second-class citizens. Back then, long before an actor learned makeup, he learned pickpocketing. Its publicity, and all that has made the actors economic lot a lot better. And being on television has replaced pickpocketing. But I still dont know why actors have become so confoundedly important or why, for example, anybody would be interested in what I have to say. Who am I? Who are other actors? Especially with so many really important people around with really important things to say. Why arent teachers and professors as awe-inspiring with the public as actors? What they do is certainly a bigger contribution to the welfare of society than what actors do."

"I have turned roles down because they are rapists. Its something I dont even want to watch. If I even click on it on TV, I have to click it off or Ill put my foot through the screen... What you see on that screen is just my terror at having to do that scene."

"I knew nothing about the theatre, and so asked the advice of my best friend among the players, , as to what I should do, and his advice was so extraordinary that I took it as a good joke until I noticed that I was creating chaos in the theatre. "Treat us as though we were children," he said shortly. "Nice children, of course; children that youre fond of, but not as grownups. And for Gods sake, whatever you do, dont praise us. That drives us mad." It is the best advice that was ever given to a man of the theatre, if only he would be intelligent enough to appreciate it. I wasnt; not for a long time. Arthur never made a great reputation as an actor; he was far too discerning for that; and it was only when I had almost wrecked the company that I realized how discerning he was."

"Sandra believes that every part you play is really part of you, a way for you to work out something in your past, something in your present. Since then, whenever Ive chosen to do something, Ive thought, "well, this has nothing to do with me." Then, sure enough, once I get into it and really start doing the work, and really start uncovering, I see that its absolutely about something thats going on in my life. It isnt something obvious. Its usually pretty hidden. But theres always some sort of parallel to whats going on in my own life. And so, perhaps you can use it to bring closure, as a healing, a reconnection. I believe in that. I believe in that."

"I think I love and reverence all arts equally, only putting my own just above the others; because in it I recognize the union and culmination of my own. To me it seems as if when God conceived the world, that was Poetry; He formed it, and that was Sculpture; He colored it, and that was Painting; He peopled it with living beings, and that was the grand, divine, eternal Drama."

"For the theatre one needs long arms; it is better to have them too long than too short. An artiste with short arms can never, never make a fine gesture."