I never planned to be an actor. It turned out I could make a living doing it. Wallace Shawn More Quotes by Wallace Shawn More Quotes From Wallace Shawn For me, a play is a form of writing which isn't complete until it is interpreted by actors. But it's still a form of writing. And so most of my time is spent thinking about how to write a sentence. Wallace Shawn playwritingthinking We are not what we seem. We are more than what we seem. The actor knows that. And because the actor knows that hidden inside himself there's a wizard and a king, he also knows that when he's playing himself in his daily life, he's playing a part, he's performing, just as he's performing when he plays a part on stage. Wallace Shawn actorskingsplay I'm not proud to be me, I'm not excited to be me, but I find that I am me, and like most other individuals, I send out little signals; I tell everyone else how everything looks from where I am. Wallace Shawn proudlittleslooks It's obviously a characteristic of human beings that we like to feel superior to others, but our problem is we are not superior Wallace Shawn characteristicsproblemfeels Who says one instance of writing has anything in common with another instance? Wallace Shawn instancecommonwriting Even with my wife, I find sharing soup is hard. Wallace Shawn my-wifewifesoup Sleep: a poor substitute for caffeine! Wallace Shawn bedtimeinsomniasleep Patriotism is considered to be an emotion a person ought to feel. But why? Why is it nobler to love your own country than to love someone else's? Wallace Shawn emotionlove-youcountry I grew up in a very polite family, and I suppose my parents were both very polite, and from the time I was a young boy, I suspected that there were passions seething underneath and not being mentioned, and that was something that came to preoccupy me. Somehow I had some drive to write down what people might really be thinking. Wallace Shawn passionwritingboys Acting is trying to be absolutely truthful; to get audiences to believe that you are a dean, when, actually, not only are you not the dean, but if you walked into the building they'd probably throw you out. That's very hard. Wallace Shawn actingtryingbelieve I don't have an idea for a play until after I've finished writing it. I write first, and come up with what it's about later. My technique could be compared to having a large canvas and coming in every day and putting a dot on it somewhere, and after several years - literally - I begin to say, That reminds me of an elephant, so I think I'll make it one. Wallace Shawn writingyearsthinking My style as a human being is to indulge people who need to escape, yet I insist on confronting them as a playwright. It's quite embarrassing, it's quite unpleasant, it's quite awkward. Wallace Shawn awkwardstylepeople I was making my living from a joke about my appearance that I didn't understand, and in a way still don't, because when I look in a mirror it doesn't seem funny to me. Wallace Shawn mirrorslooksway As writers, we can't predict who might come along who might find our offerings valuable. Wallace Shawn valuableofferingmight We're in an emergency situation. The United States has become an absolutely terrifying country, and I would hope that I could participate in some way in stopping the horror and the brutality. Wallace Shawn scarycountryway Acting is an escape from the boring person that I am in real life. Wallace Shawn boringactingreal I wrote my first play at the age of 10, 55 years ago, and I've always found it a fantastic relief to imagine I know what things would be like from the point of view of other individuals and to send out signals from where I actually am not. Playwrights never need to write from the place where they are. Wallace Shawn viewswritingyears 'The Princess Bride' is by far the most popular film I've ever done. I don't think I'll ever top it. Wallace Shawn princessdonethinking In real life, every person is the leading man or woman. We don't think of ourselves as supporting or character actors. Wallace Shawn realcharactermen In my early 20s, I studied history and politics, and I really thought that perhaps I would devote my life to that. Wallace Shawn early-20s
