Stella Adler

“Your talent is in your choice.”

“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.”

“The ideas of the great playwrights are almost always larger than the experiences of even the best actors.”

“The theatre was created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation.”

“When you stand on the stage you must have a sense that you are addressing the whole world, and that what you say is so important the whole world must listen.”

“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.”

“One way we can enliven the imagination is to push it toward the illogical. We're not scientists. We don't always have to make the logical, reasonable leap.”

“The play is not in the words, it's in you!”

“The actor cannot afford to look only to his own life for all his material nor pull strictly from his own experience to find his acting choices and feelings.”

“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.”

“You have to get beyond your own precious inner experiences.”

“The actor has to develop his body. The actor has to work on his voice. But the most important thing the actor has to work on is his mind.”

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

“You will only fail to learn if you do not learn from failing.”

“You cannot afford to confine your studies to the classroom. The universe and all of history is your classroom.”

“The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation.”

“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.”

“You should want to act only because you want to be led to something bigger in life.”

“The theatre is a spiritual and social X-ray of its time.”