Life, Talent, Wisdom,
Truth
The person you are is a thousand times more
interesting than the best actor you could ever hope
to be.
Talent is nothing but a prolonged period of
attention and a shortened period of mental
assimilation.
Fear your admirers! Learn in time to hear,
understand, and love the cruel truth about
yourselves!
A thought prior to become a thought was a feeling.
The greatest wisdom is to realize one's lack of it.
What is important to me is not the truth outside
myself, but the truth within myself.
Theatre
The theatre infects the audience with its noble
ecstasy.
Unless the theatre can ennoble you, make you a
better person, you should flee from it.
Every person who is
really an artist desires to create inside of himself
another, deeper, more interesting life than the one
that actually surrounds him.
When an actor is completely absorbed by some
profoundly moving objective so that he throws his
whole being passionately into its execution, he
reaches a state we call inspiration.
Remember this practical piece of advice: Never come
into the theatre with mud on your feet. Leave your
dust and dirt outside. Check your little worries,
squabbles, petty difficulties with your outside
clothing ‒ all the things that ruin your life and
draw your attention away from your art ‒ at the
door.
The life of a character should be an unbroken line
of events and emotions, but a play only gives us a
few moments on that line ‒ we must create the rest
to portray a convincing life.
The actor must use his imagination to be able to
answer all questions (Who am I? What will I be? Why
am I here? Where am I going?). Make the
make-believer existence more definite.
It is through you, actors, that the forces which are
understood by millions and that tell of everything
that is beautiful on earth, find expression. The
forces which reveal to people the happiness of
living in a widened consciousness and in the joy of
creative work for the whole world. You, the actors
of a theatre, which is one of the centres of human
culture, will never be understood by the people if
you are unable to reflect the spiritual needs of
your time, the now in which you are living.
A true priest is aware of the presence of the altar
during every moment that he is conducting a service.
It is exactly the same way that a true artist should
react to the stage all the time he is in the
theater. An actor who is incapable of this feeling
will never be a true artist.
The main difference between the art of the actor and
all other arts is that every other [non-performing]
artist may create whenever he is in the mood of
inspiration. But the artist of the stage must be the
master of his own inspiration, and must know how to
call it forth at the hour announced on the posters
of the theatre. This is the chief secret of our art.
Never lose yourself on the stage. Always act in your
own person, as an artist. The moment you lose
yourself on the stage marks the departure from truly
living your part and the beginning of exaggerated
false acting. Therefore, no matter how much you act,
how many parts you take, you should never allow
yourself any exception to the rule of using your own
feelings. To break that rule is the equivalent of
killing the person you are portraying, because you
deprive him of a palpitating, living, human soul,
which is the real source of life for a part.
Our demands are simple, normal, and therefore they
are difficult to satisfy. All we ask is that an
actor on the stage live in accordance with natural
laws.
The theatre infects the audience with its noble
ecstasy.
Unless the theatre can ennoble you, make you a
better person, you should flee from it.
Remember this practical piece of advice: Never come
into the theatre with mud on your feet. Leave your
dust and dirt outside. Check your little worries,
squabbles, petty difficulties with your outside
clothing ‒ all the things that ruin your life and
draw your attention away from your art ‒ at the
door.
