Charles Durning Quotes

Do you know why Albert Camus was so prolific? He wrote to keep from screaming.

Acting didn't solve much! If it did, I would have ended up much less crazy than I am today, but I'm not. At least for me, acting is a relief - a relief to be able to admit certain things about myself and disguise in my work, in my characters.

I feel the need to scream, and even if the scream is not answered, I find my sanity in the echo.

I know I always had a lot of energy growing up and I had to put it somewhere. Theater allowed me to really feel things, to laugh, to cry, to explode outward. I could do anything and it was totally accepted and appreciated. If I hadn't gone into the theater, I probably would have been a psychotic killer.

Acting can be an amazingly cathartic thing - especially for young girls.

Like I can't cry for myself so I will let this song take all of the things inside I can't let anyone else see and offer it up, as if the sound were some kind of god, and my pain is some kind of sacrifice.

I was a scared kid... I think I was born a nervous wreck, and I think movies were one way to find a way transferring my own private horrors to everyone else's lives. It was less of an escape and more of an exorcism.

I have always been fascinated by dark and mysterious stuff. I guess I have a pretty dark and gloomy side. Writing songs saves me from going completely gonzo.

If I didn't have my films as an outlet for all the different sides of me, I would probably be locked up.

I have a lot of aggression in me that needs to come out in a not-very-precise or articulate way.

What I like about singing is that, for me, it's a substitute for the psychiatrist's couch.

I think when people are repressing things, or burying things, that can manifest in all sorts of ways.

I think secrets often come out. I spoke to a friend who is a therapist and I asked her if there were people who came to her and admitted to doing horrible things and she said, 'More than you know.'

To me, acting is the most logical way for people's neuroses to manifest themselves, in this great need we all have to express ourselves.

One good thing about acting in film is that it's good therapy.

I'm not this dark, twisted person. Yes, I have my demons and this is my way of exorcising them. It gets them out - and better out than in.

I just feel very lucky to be able to write fiction because I think, otherwise, I would have had to spend a fortune on a psychiatrist - and I still wouldn't get 1/100th of what I get writing fiction.

If I hadn't had acting, I would probably have imploded.

Creativity, for me, is almost like therapy; my songs take you into the underbelly of my mind, and there's some dark stuff in there.

It doesn't matter if it's aliens or emotional weapons or whatever - it's still a real story about big feelings that have to come out.

You know early on when you're given a gift that can keep you sane. That's what acting does for me. It keeps me honest and keeps me sane.

The form of the blues helps us express our joys, our fears, our - anything you want to express. And it helps you get it out instead of it spiraling inward, and you're getting twisted up and exploding. So it's a bit of salvation.

Talking about my deepest and darkest secrets to the world makes me feel better. It's cathartic.

She's letting out her feelings. The scary thing is not being able to do that. When your feelings build up and harden and die inside, then you're in big trouble.

The sweetest smiles hold the darkest secrets.