31 Quotes by Charles Durning

Acting is ephemeral. You can’t hang it on a wall. You can’t throw it off. And you can’t bring it out of a closet. It’s there one night and it’s gone the next, at least with stage acting anyhow.

That place that no one knows about – horrifying things we keep secret. A lot of that is released through acting.

You’re out there on a high wire without a net, and that’s the way actors operate. They have to be fearless about how they work and they have to create a life for the audience in 90 minutes and make them believe.

I’d like to have a decade of my life back. I dropped into a void for almost a decade.

I was born looking older – and I’ve been aging since I was a teenager.

If I had my druthers, I would do only stage work.

I never turned down anything and never argued with any producer or director.

I think I’ve done 200 plays and 125 movies, so I’ve been very lucky to have made a living at acting.

I would rather do a play because it’s instantaneous. You go on the stage, and you know whether it’s happening or not. Somebody asked me ‘What is acting?’ And I said, ‘Acting is listening.’ And if you ain’t listening, nobody’s listening.