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Your job as actors is to understand the size of what you say, to understand what's beneath the word.

Stella Adler

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Stella Adler
Age: 91 †
Born: 1901
Born: February 10
Died: 1992
Died: December 21
Actress
Drama Teacher
Film Actor
Stage Actor
Manhattan borough
New York City
Actors
Understand
Jobs
Beneath
Size
Word

More quotes by Stella Adler

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Our heritage as actors goes back thousands of years, and we have to feel as comfortable in the clothes, and the language of Sophocles as we do in our sneakers.
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Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.
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Tell yourself that the world is outside, that it's not to be hidden from you, that you are going to thrust yourself forward and be relaxed in the world. You have chosen a field where you're going to be hurt to the blood. But to retreat from the pain is death
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The actor must be full of passion. If he's too cool he's better off as the manager of a company, not someone who appears on the stage.
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I would live in a communist country providing I was the Queen.
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Happy children should not try to be artists. You have to be born with a broken heart and a sense of loneliness inside. I never had a happy moment as a child myself.
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Your talent is in your choice.
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In life, as on the stage, it's not who I am but what I do that's the measure of my worth and the secret of my success. All the rest is showiness, arrogance and conceit.
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It's not enough to have talent. You have to have a talent for your talent.
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Life in the theatre isn't necessarily when you get money from performing. It isn't when you sign a contract. It isn't even when you are in a play. It's when you understand it. If you understand it, you'll know why you want to act.
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An addict is someone who uses their body to tell society that something is wrong.
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Emotions aren't doable. Actions are doable, and if you do them correctly, they prompt the feelings.
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The best author is a dead author, because he's out of your way and you own the play. Take what he has given you and use it for what you need.
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You'll never really be great unless you aim high.
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When you most succeed, you do so by seeming not to act at all.
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Acting can be the healthiest profession in the world, because it allows you to do things you can't do in real life. It allows you to understand more than just what life provides you.
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You act with your soul. That's why you all want to be actors, because your souls are not used up by life.
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The imagination is closer to the actor than real life-more agreeable, more comfortable.
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It's not important to know who you are. It's important to know what you do, and then to do it like hercules!
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You will only fail to learn if you do not learn from failing.
Stella Adler