Stella Adler > Quotes

“life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one”
― Stella Adler

“Actors need a kind of aggression, a kind of inner force. Don't be only one-sided, sweet, nice, good. Get rid of being average. Find the killer in you.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“The thing that makes you say, "I want to do something" - that is the beginning of talent.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“Acting is in everything but the words.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“You have to do something. If you do something, you become somebody. Even a daffodil does something, has a profession. It gives off scent, professionally.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“You will only fail to learn if you do not learn from failing.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“You cannot afford to confine your studies to the classroom. The universe and all of history is your classroom.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“Your job as actors is to understand the size of what you say, to understand what's beneath the word.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“Emotions aren't doable. Actions are doable, and if you do them correctly, they prompt the feelings.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“Sometimes life beats down and crushes the soul, and art reminds you that you have one”
― Stella Adler, The Technique of Acting

“Tell yourself that the world is outside, that it's not to be hidden from you, that you are going to thrust yourself forward and be relaxed in the world. You have chosen a field where you're going to be hurt to the blood. But to retreat from the pain is death”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“You will fail. That's great. Here's a secret for you - that's the only way you can learn. Learning has to cost you something. If you fail but learn something from your failure, you will grow.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“The best author is a dead author, because he's out of your way and you own the play. Take what he has given you and use it for what you need.”
― Stella Adler, Stella Adler on Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov

“When you most succeed, you do so by seeming not to act at all.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“You have to understand your best. Your best isn't Barrymore's best or Olivier's best or my best, but your own. Every person has his norm. And in that norm every person is a star. Olivier could stand on his head and still not be you. Only you can be you. What a privilege! Nobody can reach what you can if you do it. So do it. We need your best, your voice, your body. We don't need for you to imitate anybody, because that would be second best. And second best is no better than your worst.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“No actor is a success unless he feels inside himself, as long as he lives, that he is good.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“You'll begin to act when you can forget your technique - when it is so securely inside you that you need not call upon it consciously.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“You should want to act only because you want to be led to something bigger in life.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“Don’t use your conscious past. Use your creative imagination to create a past that belongs to your character. I don’t want you to be stuck with your own life. It’s too little.”
― Stella Adler

“The imagination is closer to the actor than real life-more agreeable, more comfortable.”
― Stella Adler, Stella Adler on Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov

“Acting requires a creative and compassionate attitude. It must aim to lift life up to a higher level of meaning and not tear it down or demean it. The actor's search is a generous quest for that larger meaning. That's why acting is never to be done passively.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“The actor must be full of passion. If he's too cool he's better off as the manager of a company, not someone who appears on the stage.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“Acting can be the healthiest profession in the world, because it allows you to do things you can't do in real life. It allows you to understand more than just what life provides you.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“You'll never really be great unless you aim high.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“That spark has to be kept alive.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“Acting is reacting.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“...actors today think that being true is being nice, or being some other "set" thing. That is not the truth. That is your miserable habit of boring everybody to death.”
― Stella Adler, Stella Adler on Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov

“If you can't take both sides, it means you can only play yourself.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“By taking elements you observe in life, you can develop qualities in your acting life that you don't ordinarily call upon in your personal life.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting

“We dress the way we think.”
― Stella Adler, The Art of Acting