Laurence Olivier Quotes
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Of all the things I've done in life, directing a motion picture is the most beautiful. It's the most exciting and the nearest than an interpretive craftsman, such as an actor can possibly get to being a creator.
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No matter how well you perform, there's always somebody of intelligent opinion who thinks it's lousy.
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Surely we have always acted; it is an instinct inherent in all of us. Some of us are better at it than others, but we all do it.
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I'd like people to remember me for a diligent expert workman. I think a poet is a workman. I think Shakespeare was a workman. And God's a workman. I don't think there's anything better than a workman.
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Use your weaknesses; aspire to the strength.
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What is acting but lying and what is good lying but convincing lying?
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What is the main problem of the actor? It is to keep the audience awake, and not let them go to sleep, then wake up and go home feeling they've wasted their money.
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You must have - besides intuition and sensitivity - a cutting edge that allows you to reach what you need. Also, you have to know life - bastards included - and it takes a bit of one to know one, don't you think?
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If I wasn't an actor, I think I'd have gone mad. You have to have extra voltage, some extra temperament to reach certain heights.
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Scratch an actor and you'll find an actor.
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Above all, you must remain open and fresh and alive to any new idea.
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The art of persuasion. The actor persuades himself, first, and through himself, the audience.
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The office of drama is to exercise, possibly to exhaust, human emotions. The purpose of comedy is to tickle those emotions into an expression of light relief; of tragedy, to wound them and bring the relief of tears. Disgust and terror are the other points of the compass.
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The humility to prepare and the self-confidence to bring it off.
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Shakespeare - The nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God.
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We have all, at one time or another, been performers, and many of us still are - politicians, playboys, cardinals and kings.
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In spite of a heavy disguise, a few days' growth on my face, dark glasses, a beret and one of William's jackets that fitted me not at all, as I emerged from a hotel in Lecce, a young fisherman pointed me out to his friends and said "Lavrenche Olivaire." It was not all that amazing; if you're not known in Italy, you're not known anywhere.
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Life is enthusiasm, zest.
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Acting, is not a profession for adults.
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Art is a little bit larger than life - it's an exhalation of life and I think you probably need a little touch of madness.
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Don't be afraid to be outrageous; the critics will shoot you down anyway.
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If he was lost for a moment, he would dive straight back into its honey.
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Acting is an everlasting search for truth.
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I am far from sure when I am acting and when I am not or, should I more frankly put it, when I am lying and when I am not. For what is acting but lying and what is good acting but convincing lying?
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Autograph-hunting is the most unattractive manifestation of sex-starved curiosity.
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Lead the audience by the nose to the thought.
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Don't waste your time striving for perfection; instead, strive for excellence - doing your best.
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Work is life for me, it is the only point of life - and with it there is almost religious belief that service is everything.
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Living is strife and torment, disappointment and love and sacrifice, golden sunsets and black storms. I said that some time ago, and today I do not think I would add one word.
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I believe that in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, a great theater is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture.
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