51+ Laurence Olivier Quotes On Acting, Dramatic And Versatile

Laurence Olivier was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and acclaimed actors of the 20th century, and was the first actor to be made a British peer. He won multiple awards, including two Academy Awards, three BAFTAs, and a Tony Award, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest actors of all time. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Laurence Olivier on acting, dramatic, versatile.

Top 10 Laurence Olivier Quotes

1. Don't waste your time striving for perfection; instead, strive for excellence - doing your best.
2. Have a very good reason for everything you do.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Lead the audience by the nose to the thought.
8. 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.
9. What is acting but lying and what is good lying but convincing lying?
10. 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.

Laurence Olivier Short Quotes

• Above all, you must remain open and fresh and alive to any new idea.
• Life is enthusiasm, zest.
• Autograph-hunting is the most unattractive manifestation of sex-starved curiosity.
• I take a simple view of life: keep your eyes open and get on with it.
• You think you're an artist; prove it
• Shakespeare - The nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God.
• If you're an artist, you've got to prove it.
• Use your weaknesses; aspire to the strength.
• Don't be afraid to be outrageous; the critics will shoot you down anyway.
• We used to have actresses trying to become stars; now we have stars trying to become actresses.

Laurence Olivier Quotes About Acting

Acting is an everlasting search for truth. — Laurence Olivier

We ape, we mimic, we mock. We act. — Laurence Olivier

[on whether he harbored any resentment at his forced retirement from the stage after he was fired by Britain's National Theater] I should be soaring away with my head tilted slightly toward the gods, feeding on the caviar of Shakespeare... An actor must act. — Laurence Olivier

Without acting, I cannot breathe. — Laurence Olivier

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? — Laurence Olivier

I have to act to live. — Laurence Olivier

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

Acting is illusion, as much illusion as magic is - and not so much a matter of being real. — Laurence Olivier

Acting, is not a profession for adults. — Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier Quotes About Actor

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. — Laurence Olivier

I often think that could we creep behind the actor's eyes, we would find an attic of forgotten toys and a copy of the Domesday Book. — Laurence Olivier

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

Scratch an actor and you'll find an actor. — Laurence Olivier

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

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. — Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier Quotes About Straight

[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

If he was lost for a moment, he would dive straight back into its honey. — Laurence Olivier

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

Laurence Olivier Famous Quotes And Sayings

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. — Laurence Olivier

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

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

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

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

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

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

My stage successes have provided me with the greatest moments outside myself, my film successes the best moments, professionally, within myself. — Laurence Olivier

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

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

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

No matter how well you perform, there's always somebody of intelligent opinion who thinks it's lousy. — Laurence Olivier

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

Life Lessons by Laurence Olivier

1. Laurence Olivier's work demonstrates the importance of hard work and dedication to craft; he was known for his meticulous preparation and commitment to his roles.
2. He also showed the power of versatility and range, as he was able to play a wide variety of characters and genres.
3. Olivier's work also proved that an actor can have a lasting impact on the industry, as he was one of the most acclaimed actors of his time and continues to be remembered today.