What is acting but lying and what is good lying 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.

I'd like people to remember me for a diligent expert workman. I think a poet is a workman. I think Shakespeare was a workman. And God's a workman. I don't think there's anything better than a workman.

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

I often think that could we creep behind the actor's eyes, we would find an attic of forgotten toys and a copy of the Domesday Book.

Above all, you must remain open and fresh and alive to any new idea.

Autograph-hunting is the most unattractive manifestation of sex-starved curiosity.