John Gielgud quotes:

Before you can do something you must first be something.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Being another character is more interesting than being yourself.

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