Carson McCullers Quotes

In fiction, a reaction shot is a brief portrayal of how your character reacts to something that someone else has done. In contrast to more direct character building, your guy doesn't initiate the sequence; he completes it. Exactly how he completes it can tell readers a lot about him.

I was always very quiet, and I think everyone thought that was because I was a good child. I'd sit there in silence, but it wasn't until my mother was calling me one day when I was very young that she realised something was wrong because I wasn't responding.

My whole life, I never spoke a single-word.

It's certainly easy for me to make a fictional character mad about something. I can get them angry about something that I'm relatively indifferent about, just because I'm not educated on it, if I go to someone who is educated about it and is passionate about it. I find a point of fiction and then give it to them.

Praise never gives us much pleasure unless it concur with our own opinion, and extol us for those qualities in which we chiefly excel.

To choose the ideal voice for a character is to give a character an ardent and vivid life, to allow him or her to speak, rather than speaking for them, in an older style of omniscient narration.

I don't really pity any of my characters. I hold my characters under a harsh fluorescent lamp and ask "Who are you?" I'm not doing their makeup or giving them hairdos. They present themselves to me as they are and then I let them say what they want. Usually they're saying something too honest.

The great difficulty in education is that we give rules instead of inspiring sentiments. ... it is not possible to make rules enough to apply to all manner of cases; and if it were possible, a child would soon forget them. But if you inspire him with right feelings, they will govern his actions.

Success may or may not mean that you've acquired a lot. It does mean that you have become a generous person.

As an actor, I think every moment in your life is giving you a new set of tools. You’re constantly absorbing new information that you can put back onto the screen.

What really pleases the Spiritual Master is our intent and the quality of our character.

It was a very interesting challenge [Heihei role] because he's limited to rooster-y, chicken-type noises, and he goes along on the whole adventure. It just becomes, "If that's how you express yourself, go for it.

Actors want to work. Give them characters they want to play, or a story they want to tell, and hopefully the budget will follow.

Shoot, two things I said I wasn't going to do: Cry and give air quotes.

People always seemed to pay attention to us. I have no idea why -- there was just a presence between the four people or something.

My brother, Jason, came into the bar, then, and sauntered over to give me a hug. He knows that women like a man who's good to his family and also kind to the disabled, so hugging me is a double whammy of recommendation.

A firm, hearty handshake gives a good first impression, and you'll never be forgiven if you don't live up to it.

Sometimes we are to guard our heart...protect it from invasion and keep things safe and secure. Sometimes we should give our heart... let certain qualities out and release them to others

You have to appear wiser and more prudent than is required by the people you are dealing with if you want to give a high opinion of yourself.

As far as I am concerned, a painting speaks for itself. What is the use of giving explanations, when all is said and done? A painter has only one language.

The recipe for any character is always very interesting, as far as what doses of certain qualities you want.

Your character that you create in your writing not only represents who you are, but also represents a number of people who you've met along the way.

I did feel Dr. Cox, the character that I was auditioning for, was too similar to the head of the hospital. He was too arrogant and mean. I approached him kind of like I had a miniature Max sitting on my shoulder. I pictured Max saying, "This guy has got to give love every once in a while. He has to!" I knew there had to be tiny little windows of redemption.

I don't want to spoon-feed the audience, like, "This is the funny guy, this is one you hate, this is the one you like." A lot of movies do that. They don't really give you a choice. They show you the jock, and he's an idiot, and everybody has to hate him. You have no choice.

It's an awful truth that suffering can deepen us, give a greater lustre to our colours, a richer resonance to our words.