Quote

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.

Laurence Olivier

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Laurence Olivier
Age: 82 †
Born: 1907
Born: May 22
Died: 1989
Died: July 11
Actor
Character Actor
Director
Dramaturge
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Politician
Screenwriter
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Dorking
Surrey
Baron Olivier of Brighton
The Lord Olivier
Heart
Actor
Work
Teach
Knowledge
Actors
Given
Better
Human
Humans
Theatre

More quotes by Laurence Olivier

Image
I'm rather bored by the subject - meaning me. It's a sort of a yoke, but at times you know, a yoke is a kind of comfort. And it's always there.
Laurence Olivier
Image
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?
Laurence Olivier
Image
Scratch an actor and you'll find an actor.
Laurence Olivier
Image
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.
Laurence Olivier
Image
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.
Laurence Olivier
Image
No matter how well you perform, there's always somebody of intelligent opinion who thinks it's lousy.
Laurence Olivier
Image
Work is life for me, it is the only point of life - and with it there is almost religious belief that service is everything.
Laurence Olivier
Image
We used to have actresses trying to become stars now we have stars trying to become actresses.
Laurence Olivier
Image
Shakespeare - The nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God.
Laurence Olivier
Image
Without acting, I cannot breathe.
Laurence Olivier
Image
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.
Laurence Olivier
Image
What is acting but lying and what is good lying but convincing lying?
Laurence Olivier
Image
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.
Laurence Olivier
Image
Lead the audience by the nose to the thought.
Laurence Olivier
Image
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.
Laurence Olivier
Image
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.
Laurence Olivier
Image
Striving for perfection is the greatest stopper there is. You'll be afraid you can't achieve it. It's your excuse to yourself for not doing anything. Instead, strive for excellence, doing your best.
Laurence Olivier
Image
Don't be afraid to be outrageous the critics will shoot you down anyway.
Laurence Olivier
Image
Autograph-hunting is the most unattractive manifestation of sex-starved curiosity.
Laurence Olivier
Image
[May 1958, on playing Macbeth at age 30 and age 48] When you're a young man, Macbeth is a character part. When you're older, it's a straight part.
Laurence Olivier