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" 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 of the compass. "

Laurence Olivier

Comedy

Exercise

Tears

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" My stage successes have provided me with the greatest moments outside myself, my film successes the best moments, professionally, within myself. "

" When you're a young man, Macbeth is a character part. When you're older, it's a straight part. "

" Nobody is going to pretend that I am younger than I am. Apart from anything else, it is in the papers all the damn time - every time I have a birthday. "

" I'd like people to remember me for a diligent expert workman. I think a poet is a workman. I think Shakespeare was a workman. And God's a workman. I don't think there's anything better than a workman. "

Laurence Olivier

People

Remember

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

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

" I don't know what is better than the work that is given to the actor - to teach the human heart the knowledge of itself. "

" 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. "

" 'Richard III' is a really difficult play to film - it's involved, often obscure. I felt it absolutely necessary to do more simplification than I've ever done before. "

" It took me two years to walk around a chair with ease; it took me another two years to learn how to laugh onstage - and I had to learn everything. "

" I can't think I've ever loved anybody quite as much... My mother was my life, really; she was my entire world. "

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

" I suppose, unconsciously, I used all my wives to further my journey up the ladder. "

Laurence Olivier

My Journey

Ladder

" 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. "

" Nine books have been written about me, and there's not a word of truth in any of them. "

Laurence Olivier

Word

Nine

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

" A man's prime interest in life must be his work. "