Oliver Goldsmith Quotes

I'm not acting, but I am acting.

All my work's been disguise, really: hiding behind the character.

You can tell when someone is putting on a role. If someone really believes in what they're saying, it's quite hard to find cracks.

As an actor, we spend so much putting the mask on and trying to be someone you're not.

I find it very hard to play a part, then take it off like a cheap suit and become Mr Normal - Mr. Nice Guy.

I once told someone I could act. They totally bought it. I've been getting away with it ever since.

To fake it is to stand guard over emptiness.

I look much more civilized than I actually am.

A lot of broadcasting, I think, is doing a tremendous amount of preparation and trying to act like, 'Oh, this thought is just occurring to me right now' - and speaking sincerely.

Well, you know what they say in Hollywood - the most important thing is being sincere, even if you have to fake it.

When you do an interview with me, you're talking to a cheap imitation of the person that I really am. There's no magic in my words, it's just me talking.

But then acting is all about faking. We're all very good at faking things that we have no competence with.

It seems to me that there are two kinds of trickery: the 'fronts' people assume before one another's eyes, and the 'front' a writer puts on the face of reality.

Man is a make-believe animal: he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part.

Being is like pretending.

Acting like the person I'm supposed to be has always been the easiest thing for me.

I'm not really an impersonator.

Strip away the phony tinsel of Hollywood and you'll find the real tinsel underneath.

No one is ever who they purport to be.

That's what show business is, sincere insincerity.

Acting is like a Halloween mask that you put on.

I'm supposed to convince you, for two hours, that I'm somebody else. Now if you know everything about my life, if you think you've got me figured out and you think you know all my dark secrets, how am I ever going to convince you that I'm somebody else?

The less you know about me, the easier it is to convince you that I am that character on screen.

Very few of us are what we seem.

Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem.