Actors cannot choose the manner in which they are born. Consequently, it is the one gesture in their lives completely devoid of self-consciousness.
The old-fashioned idea that the simple piling up of experiences, one on top of another, can make you an artist, is, of course, so much rubbish. If acting were just a matter of experience, then any busy harlot could make Garbo’s Camille pale.
Always aim for achievement, and forget about success.
All through the long winter, I dream of my garden. On the first day of spring, I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth. I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar.
Age is not important unless you’re a cheese.
Legends die hard. They survive as truth rarely does.
There’s a little vanity chair that Charlie gave me the first Christmas we knew each other. I’ll not be parting with that, nor our bed – the four-poster – I’ll be needing that to die in.
Perhaps we have been misguided into taking too much responsibility from our children, leaving them too little room for discovery.
The expert at anything was once a beginner.
When Charles first saw our child Mary, he said all the proper things for a new father. He looked upon the poor little red thing and blurted, “She’s more beautiful than the Brooklyn Bridge.”
There is only one terminal dignity – love.
Stardom can be a gilded slavery.
I’m leaving the screen because I don’t think I am very good in the pictures and I have this beautiful dream that I’m elegant on the stage.
Mere longevity is a good thing for those who watch Life from the side lines. For those who play the game, an hour may be a year, a single day’s work an achievement for eternity.
The faster we travel, the less there is to see.
In this sometimes turbulent world, the river is a cosmic symbol of durability and destiny; awesome, but steadfast. In this period of deep national concern, I wish everyone could live for a while beside a great river.
The theatre demanded of its members stamina, good digestion, the ability to adjust, and a strong sense of humor. There was no discomfort an actor didn’t learn to endure. To survive, we had to be horses and we were.
In the last stages of a final illness, we need only the absence of pain and the presence of family.
I cry out for order and find it only in art.
At 50, you need to laugh about your age. If you don’t, everybody else will do it for you. Happy birthday, old chum!
There is no racial or religious prejudice among people in the theater. The only prejudice is against bad actors, especially successful ones.