Paul Scofield quotes

Paul Scofield was a distinguished British actor renowned for his powerful stage and film performances. Famous for his portrayal of Sir Thomas More in "A Man for All Seasons," he earned numerous prestigious awards, including an Academy Award. He is remembered for his remarkable voice, intense character portrayals, and enduring influence on British theatre. Here are 17 of his quotes:

King Lear is undoubtedly the greatest play ever written by Shakespeare - or anybody else for that matter. Hamlet is certainly great, but it doesn't contain as many elements of humanity as we see in Lear.

Paul Scofield

I decided a long time ago I didn't want to be a star personality and live my life out in public. I don't think it's a good idea to wave personality about like a flag and become labeled.

Paul Scofield

As you get older, the more you know, so the more nervous you become. The risks are much bigger.

Paul Scofield

I found at this point that effective acting wasn't what I wanted to do, that I didn't want to make effects, that I wanted, as it were, to leave an impression of a particular kind of human being.

Paul Scofield

Privacy is not negotiable.

Paul Scofield

Oh, I suppose my wife and I will open a bottle of champagne with another couple.

Paul Scofield

I feel incredibly lucky to have discovered early in my life, practically when I was a child, that I could do something that in the end I finally wanted to do all my life. It has something to do with being completely removed from oneself, which doesn't necessarily mean one is uncomfortable inside oneself. It just means it's a great relief to be inhabiting somebody else. It can be a tremendously liberating sensation.

Paul Scofield

A book is worth a few francs; we Germans can afford to destroy those. We all may not appreciate artistic merit, but cash value is another matter.

Paul Scofield

I should in fairness add that my taste in music is reputedly deplorable.

Paul Scofield

As an actor I don't admit to any limitations. In rehearsal one comes up against apparently insuperable barriers, but if one can imaginatively get past them, overreach one's natural reach, it is astonishing how elastic one can become. I've got to go not so far as I can, but as far as is needed. It's up to somebody else to say if I've made a fool of myself.

Paul Scofield

Beneath the gentle modesty of his behavior lay the absolute assurance of a born artist.

Paul Scofield

Cheating on a quiz show? That's sort of like plagiarizing a comic strip.

Paul Scofield

Sixty-four thousand dollars for a question, I hope they are asking you the meaning of life.

Paul Scofield

A painting means as much to you as a string of pearls to an ape.

Paul Scofield

I've found that an actor's work has life and interest only in its execution. It seems to wither away in discussion and becomes emptily theoretical and insubstantial. It has no rules except perhaps audibility. With every play and every playwright the actor starts from scratch as if he or she knows nothing and proceeds to learn afresh every time, growing with the relationships of the characters and insights of the writer. When the play has finished its run the actor is empty until the next time...and it is the emptiness which is, I find, apparent in any discussion of theatre work.

Paul Scofield