Gielgud Quotes & Sayings

Before you can do something you must first be something. — John Gielgud

I'm not careful with my money at all these days. I buy people a lot of dinners! — Eric Idle

Most of my friends seem to be either dead, extremely deaf or living on the wrong side of Kent. — John Gielgud

Shakespeare is God, of course. I have studied his plays for the vast majority of my sentient life. When I was a kid, my parents found an old copy of the LP recording of Richard Burton in John Gielgud's Broadway production of Hamlet and they gave it to me for my birthday. I listened to it till the grooves wore thin and I was off and running. — Ken Ludwig

I like to be busy. I once shared an agent with the late Sir John Gielgud, who, at 96, was apparently still ringing up, saying, 'Hello, Gielgud here, any work?' Good on him. We've got to keep working. If we retire, there'll be nobody to play the old wrinklies, and that would be a dreadful shame. — Charles Dance

There was a time when rival teams used a shift against me. They would put the second baseman on the shortstop's side of the bag, move the shortstop into the hole to his right, and have the third baseman hug the foul line. The idea was to build an infield wall against a known right-handed pull hitter. — Harmon Killebrew

There have been many gay knights in the past - like Sir Noel Coward or Sir John Gielgud. — Ian McKellen

Sometimes those who need it the most are inclined the least. — Jim Rohn

N MY early boyhood I was enraptured by the great fairytale illustrators of the period: Arthur Rackham, Edmond Dulac, Kay Nielsen. As a schoolboy, I was to discover Aubrey Beardsley, and I was extremely fond of an edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream with most imaginative drawings by Heath Robinson, — John Gielgud

All night long if you want. We'll tell our secrets to the dark. — Gayle Forman

I think the young actor who really wants to act will find a way ... to keep at it and seize every opportunity that comes along. — John Gielgud

I never accept lengthy film roles nowadays, because I am always so afraid I will die in the middle of shooting and cause such awful problems. — John Gielgud

We are born winners, but we are hypnotized by the society to succumb to mediocrity and moulded into self-victimization. It is for each one of us to regain our self-geniusness. — Vishwas Chavan

But as I grew up as a child, falling in love with the theater and Shakespeare, my heroes were Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud. — Patrick Stewart

I started being interested in acting when I heard the voices of Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud and Sir Alec Guinness. I've had the great privilege of working with Sir Derek Jacobi and Sir Anthony Hopkins. These are people who inspire the work that I do. — Kenneth Branagh

Being another character is more interesting than being yourself. — John Gielgud

One mustn't allow acting to be like stoc kbroker - you must not take it just as a means of earning a living, to go down every day to do a job of work. The big thing is to combine punctuality, efficiency, good nature, obedience, intelligence, and concentration with an unawareness of what is going to happen next, thus keeping yourself available for excitement. — John Gielgud

For people who live on expectations, to face up to their realization is something of an ordeal. — Elizabeth Bowen

My mom and dad passed away from cancer. Within nine months, I lost both of my folks. Immediately after that, I had a horrible betrayal where my brother, who worked for me, stole a lot of my money. He's in jail now. — Dane Cook

I am all in favour of spontaneity, providing it is carefully planned and ruthlessly controlled. — John Gielgud

John Gielgud told us this story about Mae West. She was asked, 'Do you ever smoke after you've had sex?' She answered, 'I never looked. — Christopher Isherwood

When I first went to America in 1928, there were spittoons everywhere. I remember avoiding spit as it flew past me in Times Square. Very unattractive. — John Gielgud

Now the Gielgud Theater is a very famous old theater, because it was originally called the Globe, and the Globe is where my mother made her very first professional appearance in London, was at the Globe Theater. — Angela Lansbury

When I came into the acting profession, it was quite hierarchical. You didn't sit at the same table as the leading actor. Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud ... these were very, very intimidating and powerful people. — Helen Mirren

You can be good in a good movie, you can be good in a bad movie, you can be bad in a bad movie, but never, ever, be bad in a good movie. — John Gielgud

There are only two realities in life: death and laughter. We can do nothing to change the former, so we might as well do all we can to save the latter. — John F. Kennedy

Being asked to play one of the butlers is like being picked to play for England. All you have to do is think of the great butlers from the past - Terry-Thomas in 'How To Murder Your Wife,' John Gielgud in 'Arthur' and Denholm Elliott in 'Trading Places.' — Mark Williams

Your English style will no doubt put all the other gentlemen to bed. I speak figuratively, of course. — John Gielgud

Drawing is the necessary beginning of everything [in Art], and not having it, one has nothing. — Giorgio Vasari

John Gielgud thought 'he was never the same after leaving England, though he wouldn't have admitted it. I think that tax business, and the way people reacted to it, shocked him . . . He wasn't much good as a tax exile. He didn't do a lot with his money. His houses were commonplace, the food dreadful, the decoration pretty amateurish. — Philip Hoare

I'm sure there isn't an after-life. If there were, Ivor Novello would have got a message to us. — John Gielgud

To change the way you see things is already to change things themselves. — JR

Acting is half shame, half glory. Shame at exhibiting yourself, glory when you can forget yourself. — John Gielgud

Usually one must go to a bowling alley to meet a woman of your stature. — John Gielgud

As we at all times criticise the Premier for his management of home affairs, call Mr Butler a fool for his Budget, find fault with Beecham's conducting, or Gielgud's performance, can we not, sometimes, say that our cricketers are not quite so brilliant as usual? — Margaret Hughes

Ingrid Bergman speaks five languages and can't act in any of them. — John Gielgud

I like southern girls. They talk so slow that by the time they say no, I made it already. — Rodney Dangerfield

Oh indeed! Our and the Wilfers' Mutual Friend, my dear. — Charles Dickens

It is very hard to cast a number of plays adequately from the same company of actors without several parts being miscast. — John Gielgud

One's self-image is very important because if that's in good shape, then you can do anything, or practically anything. — John Gielgud

The truth is that everything is One, and this of course is not a numerical one. — Philip Kapleau

Healing is a small and ordinary and very burnt thing. And it's one thing and one thing only: it's doing what you have to do. — Cheryl Strayed

My mother was madly adventurous. My father was an actor - he worked with Gielgud - and my mother came from a very wealthy family. She definitely wasn't meant to marry an actor, but she eloped with him one lunch-time. — Francesca Annis