Imagination! Imagination! I put it first years ago, when I was asked what qualities I thought necessary for success on the stage.

Before you can be eccentric, you must know where the circle is.

Security is mortal's chiefest enemy.

No amount of skill on the part of the actress can make up for the loss of youth.

Only a great actor finds the difficulties of the actor's art infinite.

Applause is an instinctive, unconscious act expressing the sympathy between actors and audience. Just as our art demands more instinct than intellect in its exercise, so we demand of those who watch us an apppreciation of the simple unconscious kind which finds an outlet in clapping rather than the cold intellectual approval which would self-consciously think applause derogatory. I have yet to meet the actor who was sincere in saying that he disliked applause.

The tragedian will always be a limited tragedian if he has not learned how to laugh. The comedian who cannot weep will never touch the highest levels of mirth.