Laurence Olivier Quotes

I want to continue acting as long as I feel right about it.

You will face boredom and frustration your entire career as artists. You will be very frustrated seeking a voice/style that collectors can connect with. Once you accomplish that voice/style people are clamoring for, you will become bored doing it.

Even in my dreams of being an actor, my dream was not in the celebrity. My dream was in the work that I wanted to do.

Acting is kind of a calling for me so I'm just happy to be there and do great work.

I switched up so that I could work 12-hour shifts at the firm on the weekends so I could have days free to paint. But it was almost like I had a secret life, because I wasn't showing any of my work. It was just in my house. In '89, I got a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. That's when I started to get into group shows. Suddenly I sort of "came out" as an artist.

I never dreamed of being an actor, but I'm beginning to love it more and more because I like challenging myself. When I feel like I'm not learning or having fun anymore, then I'll stop.

I get to be a musician with my life, so it doesn't even matter if I'm good in it. It means at the very least, I'm pulling the wool over everyone's eyes consistently enough. And I put food on the table, and have work to do.

I started in theater and I wanted to write plays, but I never really found an original voice as a playwright.

Acting is something where you have to completely remove yourself. So, do I find acting easy? Absolutely no! Do I want to do more of it? Do I enjoy doing it? Do I feel appreciative to get this opportunity? Absolutely!

I used to work in TV and quit the job because I couldn't do it any more. I quite like taking my time over a film, five years is how long it takes me to work something out. And when you just do quick turnover, turnaround, I'm literally this is driving me mad, I want to find another living. I'll just have to find a creative way to tell the story.

Over the years I have learned that creating art has made me happy. I used to be a lawyer and I'm much happier being an artist.

Where can I go that would give me the same level of satisfaction as an actor?

All the traumas I went through separating art from writing don't exist anymore. That's why I love being in rock 'n' roll. It's a whole life thing.

I'm willing to be representative. I'm just an actor. I'm just playing a role, so even if it is a person I do not like, I would do that.

I feel like I was born an actor. I did not pursue acting until I was a bit older. But I got a taste of it at an earlier age in the UK.

You'll never write anything that really satisfies you though it may satisfy other people.

I don't want to just be an actor my whole life. I mean I do want to be an actor my whole life but not only an actor, I want to be an artist.

You don't need to be famous to live a life as an artist.

Watching first nights, though I've seen quite a few by now, is never any better. It's a nerve-racking experience. It's not a question of whether the play goes well or badly. It's not the audience reaction, it's my reaction. I'm rather hostile toward audiences—I don't much care for large bodies of people collected together. Everyone knows that audiences vary enormously; it's a mistake to care too much about them. The thing one should be concerned with is whether the performance has expressed what one set out to express in writing the play. It sometimes does.

The blank space can be humbling. But I've faced it my whole professional life. It's my job. It's also my calling. Bottom line: Filling this empty space constitutes my identity.

I quit comics because I got completely sick of it. I was drawing comics all the time and didn't have the time or energy to do anything else. That got to me in the end. I never made enough money from comics to be able to take a break and do something else. Now I just can't stand comics. . . . I wish my work would be recognized by a larger crowd of people as more art than be stuck with the cartoonist label for the rest of my life.

I felt kind of bored at the prospect of writing some more of my own songs because I really wasn't saying what I wanted to say.

I personally have no interest in being a star or a celebrity. I want my stand-up comedy and how I think as a comedian to be recognized and successful.

I love to perform and I love to perform characters, and sometimes when I'm doing television and film, I just feel like I'm making a living. I'm good at it, but I'm not really being artistically challenged.

I can't imagine myself not being an actor.