List of Laurence Olivier Quotes

The Office Of Drama Is To Exercise, Possibly To Exhaust, Human Emotions. The Purpose Of Comedy Is To Tickle Those Emotions Into An Expression Of Light Relief; Of Tragedy, To Wound Them And Bring The Relief Of Tears. Disgust And Terror Are The Other Points Of The Compass.

My Stage Successes Have Provided Me With The Greatest Moments Outside Myself, My Film Successes The Best Moments, Professionally, Within Myself.

If He Was Lost For A Moment, He Would Dive Straight Back Into Its Honey.

We Used To Have Actresses Trying To Become Stars; Now We Have Stars Trying To Become Actresses.

[on Whether He Harbored Any Resentment At His Forced Retirement From The Stage After He Was Fired By Britain's National Theater] I Should Be Soaring Away With My Head Tilted Slightly Toward The Gods, Feeding On The Caviar Of Shakespeare... An Actor Must Act.

A Sexual Athlete Is Not Likely To Find Sufficient Energy For Work Of Another Athletic Kind, And The Acting Of Great Parts Most Definitely Was And Always Will Be Athletic, Depending On Inner If Not On Visible Energy. Members Of Other Professions That Depend On The Expenditure Of Physical Energy Must, I Believe, Find Similar Difficulties When Attempting To Double Up On Their Energies. One Has Often Heard That The Most Magnificent Specimens Of Boxers, Wrestlers And Champions In Almost Every Branch Of Athletic Sport Prove To Be Disappointing Upon The Removal Of That Revered Jockstrap.

I Have To Act To Live.

Autograph-hunting Is The Most Unattractive Manifestation Of Sex-starved Curiosity.

I Believe In The Theater; I Believe In It As The First Glamorizer Of Thought. It Restores Dramatic Dynamics And Their Relations To Life Size.

You Think You're An Artist; Prove It

I'm Rather Bored By The Subject - Meaning Me. It's A Sort Of A Yoke, But At Times You Know, A Yoke Is A Kind Of Comfort. And It's Always There.

There Is A Spirit In Us That Makes Our Brass To Blare And Our Cymbals Crash-all, Of Course, Supported By The Practicalities Of Trained Lung Power, Throat, Heart, Guts.