Uta Hagen Quotes

• We must overcome the notion that we must be regular... it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary and leads you to the mediocre.

  Uta Hagen

  Life, Self Esteem, Women

  Uta Hagen (2009). “Respect for Acting”, p.29, John Wiley & Sons

  109 Copy quote

• The knowledge that every day there is something more to learn, something higher to reach for, something new to make for others, makes each day infinitely precious

  Uta Hagen

  Each Day, Something New, Higher

  Uta Hagen (1991). “Challenge For The Actor”, p.20, Simon and Schuster

  98 Copy quote

• All tedious research is worth one inspired moment.

  Uta Hagen

  Research, Inspired, Moments

  Uta Hagen (2009). “Respect for Acting”, p.117, John Wiley & Sons

  69 Copy quote

• no work of art is ever finished, nothing is ever static, no performance is for keeps.

  Uta Hagen

  Art, Static, Performances

  86 Copy quote

• Theoretically, the actor ought to be more sound in mind and body than other people, since he learns to understand the psychological problems of human beings when putting his own passions, his loves, fears, and rages to work in the service of the characters he plays. He will learn to face himself, to hide nothing from himself- and to do so takes AN INSATIABLE CURIOSITY ABOUT THE HUMAN CONDITION

  Uta Hagen

  Character, Passion, Play

  107 Copy quote

• The actor must know that since he, himself, is the instrument, he must play on it to serve the character with the same effortless dexterity with which the violinist makes music on his. Just because he doesn't look like a violin is no reason to assume his techniques should be thought of as less difficult.

  Uta Hagen

  Character, Play, Looks

  Uta Hagen (1991). “Challenge For The Actor”, p.37, Simon and Schuster

  71 Copy quote

• Talent is an amalgam of high sensitivity; easy vulnerability; high sensory equipment (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting intensely); a vivid imagination as well as a grip on reality; the desire to communicate one's own experience and sensations, to make one's self heard and seen.

  Uta Hagen

  Reality, Self, Vivid Imagination

  Uta Hagen (2009). “Respect for Acting”, p.17, John Wiley & Sons

  84 Copy quote

• To rebel or revolt against the status quo is in the very nature of an artist.

  Uta Hagen

  Artist, Rebel, Status Quo

  Uta Hagen (2009). “Respect for Acting”, p.18, John Wiley & Sons

  48 Copy quote

• Since the time of the ancient Greeks a democracy has depended on its philosophers and creative artists. It can only flourish by continuous probing, prodding, and questioning of the social conditions under which man exists and tries to better himself. One of the first moves of a dictatorship is to stifle the artists and thinkers who have the ability to stir up dissent from any prescribed dogma which might enslave them. Because the artist can arouse the curiosity and conscience of his community, he becomes a threat to those who have taken power.

  Uta Hagen

  Women, Moving, Taken

  Uta Hagen (1991). “Challenge For The Actor”, p.3, Simon and Schuster

  71 Copy quote

• Thoughts and feelings are suspended in a vacuum unless they instigate and feed the selected actions, and it is the characters actions which reveal the character in the play.

  Uta Hagen

  Character, Play, Feelings

  28 Copy quote

• One cannot demand of art that it pay you in any other way than in the satisfaction of the work itself.

  Uta Hagen

  Art, Demand, Pay

  46 Copy quote

• For some strange reason, we believe that anyone who lived before we were born was in some peculiar way a different kind of human being from any we have come in contact with in our own lifetime. This concept must be changed; we must realize in our bones that almost everything in time and history has changed except the human being.

  Uta Hagen

  Believe, Peculiar, Way

  Uta Hagen (2009). “Respect for Acting”, p.104, John Wiley & Sons

  37 Copy quote

• Once in a while, there's stuff that makes me say, That's what theatre's about. It has to be a human event on the stage, and that doesn't happen very often.

  Uta Hagen

  Theatre, Events, Stuff

  45 Copy quote

• If you want a bourgeois existence, you shouldn't be an actor. You're in the wrong profession.

  Uta Hagen

  Actors, Want, Existence

  44 Copy quote

• Keep pace with the present. Take a trip to the moon. envision the future.

  Uta Hagen

  Moon, Pace

  Uta Hagen (2009). “Respect for Acting”, p.29, John Wiley & Sons

  7 Copy quote

• The need to be loved and protected is at a peak when we feel abandoned and are particularly vulnerable to difficult circumstances.

  Uta Hagen

  Needs, Vulnerable, Abandoned

  Uta Hagen (1991). “Challenge For The Actor”, p.65, Simon and Schuster

  16 Copy quote

• It must be noted that it is often the colleague or direct disciple of a new thinker who gets stuck in literal interpretations of the work, tending to freeze the new ideas and language into an inflexible, static condition.

  Uta Hagen

  Ideas, Language, Interpretation

  Uta Hagen (1991). “Challenge For The Actor”, p.46, Simon and Schuster

  10 Copy quote

• I love playing Chekhov. That's the hardest; that's why I love it most.

  Uta Hagen

  Theatre, Chekhov, Hardest

  12 Copy quote

• Awards don't really mean much.

  Uta Hagen

  Mean, Awards, Really Mean

  9 Copy quote

• I love going to the movies; I love watching good movie actors. They must know something I don't.

  Uta Hagen

  Good Movie, Actors, Knows

  19 Copy quote

• We were not allowed to say, Screw, but we could say, Hump the hostess, because hump is in Shakespeare.

  Uta Hagen

  Host, Screws, Hostesses

  20 Copy quote

• I have disassociated myself from that book.

  Uta Hagen

  Book

  16 Copy quote

• We had a relationship that lasted 44 years. Herbert and I lived together 10 years before we were married. He always gave me a little heart for whatever anniversary.

  Uta Hagen

  Anniversary, Heart, Years

  18 Copy quote

• Working with Brando was fun. It was like a tennis match. We played unbelievably well together.

  Uta Hagen

  Fun, Tennis, Together

  16 Copy quote

• I think, by and large, the level of acting is mediocre. When I go to the theatre, I get so angry. I don't go.

  Uta Hagen

  Thinking, Acting, Theatre

  8 Copy quote

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