Quotes from James Lipton

We are the only school in America, drama school in America that trains actors, writers and directors side by side for three years in a master's degree program, and we want them - to expose them to everything.

I had something called the back of the chair test. Where I sit, we don't sit like you and I do. I can see a sliver right behind them and they come out and they sit like this like god students and they don't touch the back of the chair.

When it began I wrote this passionate letter to people I knew, studio members, of course, and other people with whom we have worked over the years and I said come and teach our students.

I love writing. I like reading, other people, not myself.

I'll tell you why, I don't invite the ones I don't like.

Olivier was another case of a genius, who couldn't understand why anybody would have any trouble doing this, because for him it came so easily.

Our language, one of our most precious natural resources, deserves at least as much protection as our woodlands, streams and whooping cranes.

Hackman is able to live in the moment which means there is nothing for him at that split second than what is occurring in the scene.

I thought we would have at most an audience of 5,000 devotees because I made the decision to stick to craft, not to gossip, not to be interested in any of the juicy stuff that they talk about on other shows, but stick to the question of craft.

What I didn't know that by sticking to craft we would blow open some doors that I never saw opened before.

I would say that writing, both the act of writing, and of course reading of other people's work is, for me, supreme joy.

The studio is meant to be always a place where, first of all, they can be out of spotlight, and second, where they could work with a peer group on parts that they might not have played otherwise.