Sourced

• Acting is illusion, as much illusion as magic is — and not so much a matter of being real. I mean, I would probably shock Lee Strasberg.
  • As quoted in Famous Actors and Actresses on the American Stage (1975) by William C. Young, p. 885

• If I wasn't an actor, I think I'd have gone mad. You have to have extra voltage, some extra temperament to reach certain heights. Art is a little bit larger than life — it's an exhalation of life and I think I you probably need a little touch of madness.
  • As quoted in Laurence Olivier (1979) by Foster Hirsch, p. 166

• Never. The shot is too big for the cannon - On filming Shakespeare, before he did it.
  • As quoted in Olivier (2005) by Terry Coleman

• I think that bloody old National nearly killed me - On the Royal National Theatre
  • As quoted in Olivier (2005) by Terry Coleman

• Like coming for a living - On acting to a live audience
  • As quoted in Olivier (2005) by Terry Coleman

Unsourced

• We used to have actresses trying to become stars; now we have stars trying to become actresses.

• Of all the things I've done in life, directing a motion picture is the most beautiful. It's the most exciting and the nearest that an interpretive craftsman, such as an actor ... can possibly get to being a creator.

• Work is life for me, it is the only point of life — and with it there is almost religious belief that service is everything.

• Without Acting I Cannot Breathe.

• What is acting but lying and what is good lying but convincing lying?

• Relax your feet.

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

• "Try acting. . . It's much easier!" Olivier jokingly to Strasbergian Method actor Dustin Hoffman, after Hoffman deprived himself of sleep for two days preparing for the famous "Is it safe?" scene in Marathon Man.

Quotes about Olivier

• He could speak Shakespeare's lines as naturally as if he were actually thinking them.
  • Charles Bennett

• "When I was young, I used to queue at the theater early in the morning to see Olivier. His performances were electrifying...I admired their originality and courage...and their terror. There is no acting like it today. He made me want to become part of the theater.
  • Peter Shaffer quoted in Theater Week Magazine 1989.