“We were not allowed to say, Screw, but we could say, Hump the hostess, because hump is in Shakespeare.”

For some strange reason, we believe that anyone who lived before we were born was in some peculiar way a different kind of human being from any we have come in contact with in our own lifetime.

We must overcome the notion that we must be regular… it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary and leads you to the mediocre.

We had a relationship that lasted 44 years. Herbert and I lived together 10 years before we were married. He always gave me a little heart for whatever anniversary.

Awards don’t really mean much.

Once in a while, there’s stuff that makes me say, That’s what theatre’s about. It has to be a human event on the stage, and that doesn’t happen very often.

The actor must know that since he, himself, is the instrument, he must play on it to serve the character with the same effortless dexterity with which the violinist makes music on his. Just because he doesn’t look like a violin is no reason to assume his techniques should be thought of as less difficult.

Marlon was so sensitive, you thought the poor guy just had a bad education.

no work of art is ever finished, nothing is ever static, no performance is for keeps.

I think, by and large, the level of acting is mediocre. When I go to the theatre, I get so angry. I don’t go.

I love going to the movies; I love watching good movie actors. They must know something I don’t.

I love playing Chekhov. That’s the hardest; that’s why I love it most.

The knowledge that every day there is something more to learn, something higher to reach for, something new to make for others, makes each day infinitely precious

I won’t go to England because they won’t let my dog in.

Usually, someone who’s in a show gets me a ticket. I feel cornered. I can’t walk out if I don’t like it.

Since the time of the ancient Greeks a democracy has depended on its philosophers and creative artists. It can only flourish by continuous probing, prodding, and questioning of the social conditions under which man exists and tries to better himself.

Thoughts and feelings are suspended in a vacuum unless they instigate and feed the selected actions, and it is the characters actions which reveal the character in the play.

My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.

Certainly the most diverse, if minor, pastime of literary life is the game of Find the Author.

In books we never find anything but ourselves. Strangely enough, that always gives us great pleasure, and we say the author is a genius.

My favourite authors are Milan Kundera and Jeanette Winterson.

There is probably no hell for authors in the next world – they suffer so much from critics and publishers in this.

When you dream, you are an author, but you do not know how it will end.

If God is the author of life, there must be a script.

There is no greater discovery than seeing God as the author of your destiny.