Alec Guinness Quotes & Sayings

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

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

I neither suffer myself, nor other fools, gladly. — Alec Guinness

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. — Alec Guinness

Much of the day I have busied myself making notes on the small parts in Shakespeare, often nameless, which are rewarding to the actor if only he'll not dismiss them as beneath his dignity. If I can work it up into a talk I might call it, 'Only a cough and a spit ' -the phrase so often used by actors to explain away a lack of opportunity. — Alec Guinness

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

Styling is designing for obsolescence. — Alec Guinness

Who is more foolish? The fool or the fool that follows it? — Alec Guinness

We live in an age of apologies. Apologies, fake or true, are expected from the descendants of empire builders, slave owners and persecutors of heretics, and from men who -in our eyes- just got it all wrong. So, with the age of 85 coming up shortly, I want to make an apology. It appears I must apologize for being male, white, and European. — Alec Guinness

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

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. — Alec Guinness

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

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

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

An actor is no more than an assortment of odds and ends which barely add upp to a whole man. An actor is an interpreter of other men's words, often a soul which wishes to to reveal itself to the world but dare not, a craftsman, a bag of tricks, a vanity bag, a cool observer of mankind, a child, and at his best a kind of unfrocked priest who for an hour or two, can call on heacen and hell to mesmerise a group of innocents. — Alec Guinness

The point of a knighthood for British actors is to enable them to play butlers. — Alec Guinness

My contribution to film has always been negligible. — Alec Guinness

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

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. — Alec Guinness

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. — Alec Guinness

Young men make wars, and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men: courage, and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace, and the vices of peace are the vices of old men: mistrust and caution. — Alec Guinness

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