Norman Douglas Quotes

I think probably the reason why I really enjoy acting is that I really am interested in people. I'm interested in what they think, why they think it and what happened in their lives to make them see things a certain way.

Not to act is to act. Not to speak is to speak.

I think it's not about what you say; it's about what you don't say.

I believe every person has a story that comes out from the way they talk, their opinion, their mindset and their body language.

Not responding is a response - we are equally responsible for what we don't do.

Waste no words on a man who dislikes you. Actions will impress him more.

Silence is a form of communication, too. Sometimes less is more.

It isn’t what you say that counts, it’s what you don’t say

I've been accused many times of not talking very much, but I guess I don't believe in talking things to death. You can talk too much on most anything and it stops being productive. There is a time for action. Eventually you have to pull the trigger.

Men's natures are alike; it is their habits that carry them far apart.

You ain't learning nothing when you're talking.

I think there's a great deal of information you can convey with looks or silence.

What you don't do is as important as what you do.

I think to try to understand human behavior and why people do what they do, and what in their lives have shaped them and impacted them to be who they are, it's something. I mean, that's my entire life.

People are funny in the way that they choose to express themselves.

I think humans are fascinating in general. We're so weird. We do so many quirky things, and we don't even know it. There's just so many layers upon layers of nuances in everything we do, and the most fun part as an actor is trying to get into all those nuances, whether they're conscious or unconscious.

I am and always have been fascinated with people, and I have a very good time coming up with the narratives of people's lives, exploring how a person thinks and feels.

I think character is very much a product of where you live, who you are, what is happening in that time of your life, and I'm interested in those pressures, those forces. A political context, a social context, really determines if not who people are then how they treat one another and what they say, how they speak.

The properties of people and the properties of character have almost nothing to do with each other. They really don't. I know it seems like they do because we look alike, but people don't speak in dialogue. Their lives don't unfold in a series of scenes that form a narrative arc.

One of the depressing things one realizes as one gets older is how much of one's tastes and attitudes are simply products of economic circumstance at the time.

When our systematic knowledge of human expressive behavior is more advanced, it will be possible to study the literary and historical documents of the past and to determine the expressed and implied views of personality that determined the behavior of our ancestors.

I'm very interested in what makes people tick; people are so weird and complicated.

I love talking with elderly people.

The feelings we all have as 50-year-olds are different than the feelings we all have as 30-year-olds. That informs everything we do.

I know I'm likeable, but living with me is different. Yes, I can be charming. That desire to please people and learning what to do to charm their socks off is something many of us do. But you get into a relationship, and the party's over at some point. They see the real you.