Robertson Davies on acting

A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight.

To be apt in quotation is a splendid and dangerous gift. Splendid, because it ornaments a man’s speech with other men’s jewels; dangerous, for the same reason.

When irony first makes itself known in a young man’s life, it can be like his first experience of getting drunk; he has met with a powerful thing which he does not know how to handle.

The secret of acting is sincerity. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.

George Burns1896–1996

The art of acting consists in keeping people from coughing.

Ralph Richardson1902–1983Often credited to Benjamin Franklin

If there’s anything unsettling to the stomach, it’s watching actors on television talk about their personal lives.

Marlon Brando1924–2004

• Television