Alec Guinness Quotes

An actor is totally vulnerable. His total personality is exposed to critical judgment - his intellect, his bearing, his diction, his whole appearance. In short, his ego.

An actor is at his best a kind of unfrocked priest who, for an hour or two, can call on heaven and hell to mesmerize a group of innocents.

Failure has a thousand explanations. Success doesn't need one.

I don't know what else I could do but pretend to be an actor.

All creative people hate mathematics. It's the most uncreative subject you can study.

There seems to be no end to the senseless wickedness done on this little planet in a minor solar system, and we puny mortals appear to be decreasing in importance so far as the universe is concerned.

A person who is keen to shake your hand usually has something up his sleeve.

The applause of all but very good men is no more than the precise measure of their possible hostility.

I never knew how good it is to be unknown until now. The last time I was unknown I was too busy trying to become known to realize the advantages of obscurity.

Acting is happy agony.

I shrivel up every time someone mentions Star Wars to me.

A superb tenor voice, like a silver trumpet muffled in silk.

Essentially, I'm a small-part actor who's been lucky enough to play leading roles for most of his life.

That's no moon. It's a space station.

Best performance of the year: Aston Villa v. Milan, September 1994

Styling is designing for obsolescence.

My contribution to film has always been negligible.