Striving for perfection is the greatest stopper there is. You'll be afraid you can't achieve it. It's your excuse to yourself for not doing anything. Instead, strive for excellence, doing your best.

Surely we have always acted; it is an instinct inherent in all of us. Some of us are better at it than others, but we all do it.

Acting is an everlasting search for truth.

I am far from sure when I am acting and when I am not or, should I more frankly put it, when I am lying and when I am not. For what is acting but lying and what is good acting but convincing lying?

[May 1958, on playing Macbeth at age 30 and age 48] When you're a young man, Macbeth is a character part. When you're older, it's a straight part.

What is acting but lying and what is good lying but convincing lying?

We have all, at one time or another, been performers, and many of us still are - politicians, playboys, cardinals and kings.