Quotes from James Lipton

They will take a role that scares them over a role that doesn't. That's another thing I like about actors.

Because - Bobby Lewis said this once to us in class, the better you get, the less credit you'll get. Because the better you are, the more it looks like walking and talking and everybody thinks they can walk and talk.

Comedians don't laugh. They're too busy analyzing why it's funny or not.

As I played the venereal game, like Tom Sawyer whitewashing his fence, I found that spectators didn't stay spectators long. If you should feel the urge, there are more brushes in the pail.

I was dealing with craft, and that's the surprising thing, the number of people who have literally broken down on our stage, because when you're talking about the thing that is most important to someone, they're liable to feel something strong.

If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

I became a professional actor in Detroit and I was able to earn some money. It was a good job because it permitted me to study. It fit perfectly with school.

Comedians don't laugh. They're too busy analyzing why it's funny or not.

I wanted when we began this to have a conversation, the kind that you're able to have, and the only way I knew how to do it was not to have a pre-interview.

I criticize those critics. The reason being that they're doing one of the worst things that ever can be done to an actor, which is to say, Look, you do what we like you to do or else.

And I thought, my God, there's an off chance that they will say something that's really worth preserving and there is one way to do that and I knew what it was because I come from television.

I think that anybody's craft is fascinating. A taxi driver talking about taxi driving is going to be very, very interesting.

It can be summed up in one sentence. Does this person have something to teach my students? No one has ever let us down.

They change. They're different. There are no two alike, that's the miracle of it. But if they have something to teach the students. You can see them writing during the show.

Life is just a Box of Chocolates.

The foundation for film acting is stage acting.

I was originally going to be a lawyer, and the only thing I remember from the art of cross-examination is - you can see this one coming up Sixth Avenue - never ask a question the answer to which you do not know.

The difference - the fundamental difference between theater acting and film acting is that film acting is disjunctive.

The definition of genius, really, should be that that person can do what the rest of us have to learn how to do.

Geniuses always think it's easier than we make it out to be.

If I were to ask you for example right now to go back with me and define those moments in your life that shaped you as a person and you began to reexamine them, something would happen.

Landing the airplane I think is the most difficult thing that I've every learned to do in my life.

I did get Tom Hanks to say, Life is just a box of chocolates.

Always accepting the greatest joy of all is the time that I get to spend with my wife.