Quotes About Not Acting

#1. I see all these people talking about acting as a great spiritual thing. It's not. There's no great mystery to acting. It's a very simple thing to do, but you have to work hard at it. It's about asking questions and using your imagination.

Eddie Marsan

#2. Acting is the most minor of gifts and not a very high-class way to earn a living. After all, Shirley Temple could do it at the age of four.

Katharine Hepburn

#3. To step into acting was not that difficult a transition to make. What was difficult was the work and the practice that went into becoming good at it, because I hadn't had any training.

Queen Latifah

#4. What I am doing is not acting. I am playing myself.

Charlotte Rampling

#5. I've been acting since I was six years old, but not professionally.

Jacqueline Emerson

#6. The argument that 'boys will be boys' actually carries the profoundly anti-male implication that we should expect bad behavior from boys and men. The assumption is that they are somehow not capable of acting appropriately, or treating girls and women with respect.

Jackson Katz

#7. Problem does not lie in being a husband; the problem is with acting as a husband (being bossy).

Dada Bhagwan

#8. I don't like acting; not in front of the camera.

Spike Lee

#9. I do have a huge fascination for science, and I love to hear what my dad has to say. He used to take me into minor surgeries when I was a kid and let me watch, so I definitely have a passion for it, but it's not as big a passion as I have for acting and creating characters.

Daniela Ruah

#10. For me, acting in scenes with other people is like playing soccer with a bunch of legless five year olds. It's not really fair to them, but what else can I do, you know?

Zach Braff

#11. Writing a novel is not method acting and I find it easy to step out of it at cocktail hour.

Bret Easton Ellis

#12. In my experience it's not essential to get on with the person that you're acting opposite.

Hugh Dancy

#13. I really enjoy acting, and whether it's TV or films, I feel lucky to be doing it at all. In the end, I'd love to do films, but I'm not going to work just to do work. I only want to do something that I feel right about.

Amanda Bynes

#14. I say I'm not shy, but ... Acting is a very vulnerable experience, and you've got to be really confident to put yourself out there to be judged.

Shemar Moore

#15. As a rapper, you sort of act in music videos and in the persona you adopt onstage. You kinda have to put yourself out there and be courageous even to be a rapper. So, to step into acting was not that difficult a transition to make.

Queen Latifah

#16. It doesn't work that way, you know, because most parts that you think you'd do well, most other people don't. So they offer you something - The Avengers is a good example ... I fitted into that because I came from that sort of background. It's not even acting.

Patrick Macnee

#17. Acting is a win-win situation. There is no risk involved. That's why I get tired of hearing actors who try to make out that there's a downside to it. Fame is an odd thing. It bugs you a little bit, but it's really not bad.

John Corbett

#18. I don't remember ever not knowing about acting.

Jennifer Grey

#19. Acting was important, but it was not as important as getting an education, and I credit my parents with a lot of that.

Alexander Gould

#20. I did direct two short movies. I learned many things, and one of the things I learned was that I am not a director. It has to be visceral, and it's not for me. I feel much more comfortable acting.

Vincent Cassel

#21. I realized then that both Gladys and Norm were smiling at about the time I realized that Max and I were acting like lunatics.
"I don't think she's tied up in knots anymore, Gladie," Norm observed.
"She is, dear, just not ones she wants to untie," Gladys remarked.

Kristen Ashley

#22. With big, emotional roles it's very easy, especially if you've grown up in the American school of acting, to exploit your own pain. You have to be careful about that, because 9 times out of 10, your pain is not appropriate to the character.

Laura Linney

#23. I was truly happy. But my state was not that of any ordinary satisfaction. It was a joy which stemmed directly from creative, artistic achievement.

Konstantin Stanislavski

#24. He is omnipresent not only virtually but also substantially. ... In him all things are contained and move, but he does not act on them nor they on him. ... He is always and everywhere. ... He is all eye, all ear, all brain, all arm, all force of sensing, of understanding, and of acting.5

James Gleick

#25. Movie acting may not have a certain kind of glory as true art, but it is damn hard work.

William Holden

#26. Courage is always and only one thing: It is acting with fear, not without it.

Walter Inglis Anderson

#27. My legal wife is to me dead; the only ecclesiastical authority I recognise pronounces me free; the attacks and threats of men do not disturb me. I am acting according to a clear conscience, and am doing hurt to no man. For my conduct, I will answer to my maker.

William The Silent

#28. You know, acting is very fascinating. But being an actress is not, because you become so concentrated on yourself.

Beatrice Wood

#29. Movie acting is about covering the machinery. Stage acting is about exposing the machinery. In cinema, you should think the actor is playing himself, if he's that good. It looks very easy. It should. But it's not, I assure you.

Michael Caine

#30. Fighting is not internal, but it can be very spiritual. Everything acting is internal. One of my problems in making the transition is pulling back, but I'm working on it.

Roddy Piper

#31. When my turn on the program comes, I am not nervous at all - because all this is happening out of time, out of space. I am, for a moment, a figure of my own fantasy, and I play my appointed role as if I were in the movies.

Eva Hoffman

#32. The actual time you're acting is miniscule compared to the time you're getting ready to do the work. The big difference on series television is, there's not a lot of hanging-out time. You're pumping those pages out, you're doing six, seven, eight pages a day. And I like that pace.

Joe Mantegna

#33. Acting is trying to be absolutely truthful; to get audiences to believe that you are a dean, when, actually, not only are you not the dean, but if you walked into the building they'd probably throw you out. That's very hard.

Wallace Shawn

#34. In order to forgive an offender,
we have first to forgive ourselves,
then we can forgive them.
In this way we are not
helpless victims anymore,
we regain our power,
acting from our peaceful place
of power.

Human Angels

#35. I tried to walk a line between acting lawfully and testifying falsely, but I now recognize that I did not fully accomplish this goal and that certain of my responses to questions about Ms. Lewinsky were false.

Monica Lewinsky

#36. It's a blessing and a curse. But it's not always the best situation to be in. As a profession, I don't recommend acting at all.

Armand Assante

#37. The difference between acting badly or brilliantly is not based on your ability, but on the state of your mind and/or body in any given moment.

Tony Robbins

#38. Starting at age four, my mom decided that she was not going to have an idle child in the house. So I started taking dance lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then I was in acting classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and I was also modeling on Saturdays. And that was my childhood.

Chandra Wilson

#39. If you don't love acting more than anything else, don't do it. It's not a normal life. It will take you away from your family, friends and life in general.

Johanna Braddy

#40. Law is downstream from culture. By the time you make a law about something, you're reacting, not acting. I'd rather shape the culture.

Rick Warren

#41. I was tired of acting free when I was not, tired of acting strong when I was in fact weak. I hungered more for freedom than I cared for the approval of those around me. I had already discovered that their approval could never set me free.

Anonymous

#42. A warrior can be injured but not offended. For a warrior there is nothing offensive about the acts of her fellow human beings, as long as she herself is acting in the proper mood.

Robert Spencer

#43. Natural rights are those which always appertain to man in right of his existence. Of this kind are all the intellectual rights, or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of acting as an individual for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to the rights of others.

Thomas Paine

#44. I was always a closet lover of acting. My mom was very practical. She never, ever restricted our dreams, always told us we could do or be anything. Then I said, 'Maybe I want to be an actor'. And she said, 'Maybe not that'.

Octavia Spencer

#45. There's a very fine line between underacting and not acting at all. And not acting is what a lot of actors are guilty of. It amazes me how some of these little numbers with dreamy looks and a dead pan are getting away wit it. I'd hate to see them on stage with a dog act.

Joan Blondell

#46. So don't come in here acting like you matter. You left and took your high horse with you," he takes another step in my direction. My throat constricts.
He's not finished, "And you show up here at my club thinking you can just waltz right in and have a say? No bitch.

Bink Cummings

#47. 'm not saying I would never do acting again, because I love it, but there really is nothing compared to getting up in front of people and singing your music.

Schuyler Fisk

#48. Acting can be a great job, but you do have to make up things to do when you're not working.

Laurence Fox

#49. Actors today think that being true is being nice, or being some other "set" thing. That is not the truth. That is your miserable habit of boring everybody to death.

Stella Adler

#50. It's easy to play a bad girl: You just do everything you've been told not to do, and you don't have to deal with the consequences, because it's only acting.

Eliza Dushku

#51. You're starting to look like you did before, and that's not good because what you looked like was complete shit, so get up and go to bed so I can stop acting like your mother. I can already feel my balls starting to recede. And hey, does it look like I'm growing breasts? - Kye

Krista Alasti

#52. The mug is a tool. My ace in the hole. To have looks is the bonus on top of what motivates me to be an actor. Not to realize they're an asset would be counterproductive to the cause; they serve the common good.

Billy Zane

#53. That's the joy of acting - you get to play people who are not you; you get to explore the dark, hidden sides of yourself.

Julie Kavner

#54. Theater will always be my first love. The time and dedication that goes into the rehearsal process with the cast and crew is something that TV/Movie acting does not offer.

April Parker Jones

#55. I don't know, just scripts randomly appeal to me. I'm not looking specifically at any genre.

Robert Pattinson

#56. Acting like you don't care is not letting it go.

Penelope Douglas

#57. I tend to be very private. It's easier for me. When you're acting, you're very susceptible to comments that somebody makes, so if they know something is going to happen on the show, and they say something, it can actually throw you off. So I tend to not share things with anybody.

Tom Noonan

#58. Acting doesn't feel good. It's not comfortable to feel all this stuff, it's not.

Tea Leoni

#59. It is a sign of arrogance to be mad at someone for not acting as per your advice, especially if it was unsolicited.

Mokokoma Mokhonoana

#60. I'm sure at one point I will do some acting again, but it would have to be the right thing. I'm not going to do it just because people are offering it to me. Not for those box-office, bullshit, money, noncreative people. But I'll do it when it's right to do it.

Lenny Kravitz

#61. I generally like grey roles. My interpretation of drama is different from the popular perception. Acting, for me, is not about overplaying, it is about concealing. I like flawed characters that people relate to. I would never do a romcom.

Emraan Hashmi

#62. If you focus on what you want and you persevere, chances are you succeed. You know, that's what I found. It might not be in acting - it might be in business, financing, it might be in the arts, it might be in anything. But it's all about focusing and being inspired.

Cory Monteith

#63. If somebody is acting maladjusted - which means not happy to be at Rikers - the protocol, as I understand it and have been told by COs unofficially or officially, is to pepper spray that individual to sedate them.

Cecily McMillan

#64. I won't change and my perspective won't change. I want to continue my life the way I live it, and I'm not going to let anything stop me from doing that. It isn't all about acting. There's a lot more to life than Hollywood.

Elijah

#65. When I work on a movie, I never aim for records, collections or the number one position. I always concentrate on my work and look for ways to improve my acting abilities. I also advise my co-stars not to concentrate on these pretty issues and just focus on acting.

Mahesh Babu

#66. I don't want easy. I want the impossible. I want love so thick, I drown in it; it's the only thing worth having and, I'm sorry Kona, you're a nice guy when you're not acting like an entitled jackass, but I really don't think you're capable of being anything more than that.

Eden Butler

#67. A lot of times you'll hear horror stories about actors being incredibly selfish and only wanting themselves to shine, but for me, it's not about just one person. It's about the whole team. That's the way I look at acting. That's the way I look at everything I do.

Mekhi Phifer

#68. Acting is not about being someone different. It's finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.

Meryl Streep

#69. The Song is a gritty, realistic, and powerful film. The acting and production quality are excellent, and the story is captivating. Although not for children, the story is a good reminder to adults of what really matters!

Alex Kendrick

#70. If you're dealing with personal kind of acting, you're not going to want to open up and expose it to everybody, because that's where the power lies, you know? It would be a little like showing your hand in poker, and then hoping you can still win.

Jim Parrack

#71. I think acting is about forgetting yourself in order to give the best of yourself. It's passing through you more than you're creating it. You're not the flower, but the vase which holds the flower.

Juliette Binoche

#72. The trick is not to become somebody else. You become somebody else when you're in front of a camera or when you're on stage. There are some people who carry it all the time. That, to me, is not acting.

Ernest Borgnine

#73. Listening is not merely hearing. Listening is reacting. Listening is being affected by what you hear. Listening is active.

Michael Shurtleff

#74. With any part you play, there is a certain amount of yourself in it. There has to be, otherwise it's just not acting. It's lying.

Johnny Depp

#75. Every man has inside himself a parasitic being who is acting not at all to his advantage.

William S. Burroughs

#76. I'm a standup comedian who gets to act. I'm never going to not do standup. I love doing it and when I go through periods where I'm doing a lot of acting work, I still do standup.

Bill Burr

#77. Acting is about acting, not about being a movie star.

Tyler Christopher

#78. The principal: You're a smart girl, so I'm going to be blunt. I think you'd be a lot happier if you stopped acting so weird.
Me: Who says I'm not happy?

Laura Ruby

#79. It's not just that individuals have lost faith in the integrity of their leaders, it's that they no longer believe society's most powerful institutions are acting in their interests.

Gary Hamel

#80. French troops arrived in Afghanistan last week, and not a minute too soon. The French are acting as advisers to the Taliban, to teach them how to surrender properly.

Jay Leno

#81. I like acting very much because I don't get punched, and it's not real.

Marvin Hagler

#82. I don't get a rush from anything. I did music as hard as I could. Acting for me at least, is a far more restrained performance than music. It requires a lot of skill and discipline. I'm not any good at it but I enjoy trying to be good at it.

Henry Rollins

#83. Acting is a skill that not only requires talent, but a determination: The willpower to shake off reality and plunge yourself into yourself into a character than you have to act on.

Low Kay Hwa

#84. You can have great sequences with music, but if you don't have the acting you're bored after 15 minutes. Or not bored, but you're like, 'So what?'

Danny Boyle

#85. I'm so not a performer, my drive to do [acting] is so different to other people - and I'm not discrediting that, they're born performers, they're people that you love to watch just be themselves. I like to be a little bit more in control. I like to make something.

Kristen Stewart

#86. As it is with a play, so it is with life - what matters is not how long the acting lasts, but how good it is.

Seneca.

#87. I think there were some dubious feelings about it, that the first 'Scarface' would not be surpassed by the second 'Scarface.' We were wrong; it surpassed it. The acting talent, the cinematography - we were propelled into a real class action film. Long after I kick the bucket, it'll be played.

Robert Loggia

#88. I enjoyed being in movies when I was a boy. As a child you're not acting - you believe.

Roddy McDowall

#89. The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.

Carl Jung

#90. I've worked with acting coaches, I've been going out on auditions and meeting with casting directors. But I'm not known as an actress.

Cassie Ventura

#91. I'm not into that method acting thing. I just turn up, say my lines and go home.

Marc Warren

#92. I do not know if it is true that all actors want to direct and all directors want to act, but in 1972 I tried directing and decided I had better stick to acting.

James Earl Jones

#93. If I do a song where I'm angry, when it's time to perform it live I'm not mad, I'm happy. I'm at a concert. But I have to somehow drum up that rage. That's acting.

Ice-T

#94. Acting for me is not a business, it's about trying to make pieces of art that I believe that I feel proud of. And it's the journey of that.

Nicole Kidman

#95. Acting is easy and fun. You earn a lot of money, and you bang out with girls. The profession is given tremendous significance within our society, but it's not really worthy of it.

James Spader

#96. Acting is not a science. Anybody who believes that their success exists in relation to their goals is deluding themselves; unless you think of a career in terms of financial goals. I have nothing against Tom Cruise, but he must have a large capacity to deal with the business side of movies.

Val Kilmer

#97. My background is really being a writer's actor - that seems to be the way I work best, bringing out the best of writing. There's a whole range of acting skills, and some people can be astonishing with very poor material. That's not me; my skill is essentially unlocking the writing.

Lindsay Duncan

#98. Not that they were that anxious to see Ronnie as President; they were afraid if he didn't get elected, he'd go back to acting.

Bob Hope

#99. I learn a lot from acting, but it's not my natural way. I can't help but write; I do it all the time. It's a condition of being for me.

Mary Stuart Masterson

#100. I was never a villain on the stage. I always played strong, sympathetic types. My first stage role with a speaking part, believe it or not, was as a priest. It wasn't until I began acting in films that the producers and directors saw me primarily as a bizarre villain.

Conrad Veidt