I believe that in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, a great theater is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture.

Laurence Olivier

Lead the audience by the nose to the thought.

Laurence Olivier

We have all, at one time or another, been performers, and many of us still are - politicians, playboys, cardinals and kings.

Laurence Olivier

I take a simple view of life: keep your eyes open and get on with it.

Laurence Olivier

Acting is a masochistic form of exhibitionism. It is not quite the occupation of an adult.

Laurence Olivier

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.

Laurence Olivier

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

Laurence Olivier

We ape, we mimic, we mock. We act.

Laurence Olivier

Have a very good reason for everything you do.

Laurence Olivier

The actor should be able to create the universe in the palm of his hand.

Laurence Olivier

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

Laurence Olivier

I should be soaring away with my head tilted slightly toward the gods, feeding on the caviar of Shakespeare. An actor must act.

Laurence Olivier