If he was lost for a moment, he would dive straight back into its honey.

Of all the things I've done in life, directing a motion picture is the most beautiful. It's the most exciting and the nearest than an interpretive craftsman, such as an actor can possibly get to being a creator.

Don't waste your time striving for perfection; instead, strive for excellence - doing your best.

Use your weaknesses; aspire to the strength.

No matter how well you perform, there's always somebody of intelligent opinion who thinks it's lousy.

[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.

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.