Laurence Olivier Quotes

Without acting, I cannot breathe.

Don't be afraid to be outrageous; the critics will shoot you down anyway.

I should be soaring away with my head tilted slightly toward the gods, feeding on the caviar of Shakespeare. An actor must act.

The humility to prepare and the self-confidence to bring it off.

Don't waste your time striving for perfection; instead, strive for excellence - doing your best.

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.

Autograph-hunting is the most unattractive manifestation of sex-starved curiosity.

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.

The actor should be able to create the universe in the palm of his hand.

I believe in the theater; I believe in it as the first glamorizer of thought. It restores dramatic dynamics and their relations to life size.

In the great wealth, the great firmament of your nation's generosities this particular choice may perhaps be found by future generations as a trifle eccentric, but the mere fact of it ... the prodigal, pure, human kindness of it ... must be seen as a beautiful star in that firmament which shines upon me at this moment, dazzling me a little, but filling me with warmth of the extraordinary elation, the euphoria that happens to so many of us at the first breath of the majestic glow of a new tomorrow.

I take a simple view of life: keep your eyes open and get on with it.

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.

I don't know what is better than the work that is given to the actor - to teach the human heart the knowledge of itself.

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.

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.

[in 1979] 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?

Shakespeare - The nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God.

Acting is a masochistic form of exhibitionism. It is not quite the occupation of an adult.

We ape, we mimic, we mock. We act.

The art of persuasion. The actor persuades himself, first, and through himself, the audience.

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.

A sexual athlete is not likely to find sufficient energy for work of another athletic kind, and the acting of great parts most definitely was and always will be athletic, depending on inner if not on visible energy. Members of other professions that depend on the expenditure of physical energy must, I believe, find similar difficulties when attempting to double up on their energies. One has often heard that the most magnificent specimens of boxers, wrestlers and champions in almost every branch of athletic sport prove to be disappointing upon the removal of that revered jockstrap.

There is a spirit in us that makes our brass to blare and our cymbals crash-all, of course, supported by the practicalities of trained lung power, throat, heart, guts.

Lead the audience by the nose to the thought.

We have all, at one time or another, been performers, and many of us still are - politicians, playboys, cardinals and kings.

Life is enthusiasm, zest.

Use your weaknesses; aspire to the strength.

When you're a young man, Macbeth is a character part. When you're older, it's a straight part.