Keith Johnstone Quotes

Quotes about:

• Imagination is as effortless as perception, unless we think it might be ‘wrong’, which is what our education encourages us to believe.

  Keith Johnstone

  Believe, Thinking, Imagination

  Keith Johnstone (1981). “Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre”, p.80, Routledge

  71 Copy quote

• There are people who prefer to say ‘Yes’, and there are people who prefer to say ‘No’. Those who say ‘Yes’ are rewarded by the adventures they have, and those who say ‘No’ are rewarded by the safety they attain.

  Keith Johnstone

  Adventure, People, Safety

  Keith Johnstone (2012). “Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre”, p.92, Routledge

  91 Copy quote

• Good improvisers seem telepathic; everything looks pre-arranged, This is because they accept all offers made—which is something no ‘normal’ person would do.

  Keith Johnstone

  Looks, Normal, Accepting

  Keith Johnstone (2012). “Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre”, p.99, Routledge

  90 Copy quote

• If people had no fear, you'd hardly need to have to teach them. It's the fear that screws everything up.

  Keith Johnstone

  People, Needs, No Fear

  Source: actorsandperformers.com

  32 Copy quote

• The improviser has to understand that his first skill lies in releasing his partner’s imagination.

  Keith Johnstone

  Lying, Skills, Imagination

  Keith Johnstone (1981). “Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre”, p.93, Routledge

  83 Copy quote

• None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public.

  Keith Johnstone

  Growing Up, Grows, Behave

  63 Copy quote

• If you have a good idea, open your mouth and say something else.

  Keith Johnstone

  Funny, Ideas, Ironic

  81 Copy quote

• The best laughs are on the recognition of truth.

  Keith Johnstone

  Laughing, Recognition

  66 Copy quote

• Many teachers think of children as immature adults. It might lead to better and more 'respectful' teaching, if we thought of adults as atrophied children.

  Keith Johnstone

  Teacher, Children, Teaching

  Keith Johnstone (1981). “Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre”, p.78, Routledge

  83 Copy quote

• Enjoy things even when you’re screwing up.

  Keith Johnstone

  Enjoy

  47 Copy quote

• If you believe you're good already, you don't need to do extra stuff to impress us. Your best work comes when you're absorbed; because then your ego is away.

  Keith Johnstone

  Believe, Ego, Needs

  62 Copy quote

• Suppose Mozart had tried to be original? It would have been like a man at the North Pole trying to walk north, and this is true of all of the rest of us. Striving after originality takes you far away from your true self, and makes your work mediocre.

  Keith Johnstone

  Men, Self, Trying

  Keith Johnstone (2012). “Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre”, p.88, Routledge

  60 Copy quote

• Most people I meet are secretly convinced that they’re a little crazier than the average person. People understand the energy necessary to maintain their own shields, but not the energy expended by other people. They understand that their own sanity is a performance, but when confronted by other people they confuse the person with the role.

  Keith Johnstone

  Average, People, Energy

  Keith Johnstone (1981). “Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre”, p.83, Routledge

  68 Copy quote

• I tell people not to do their best. I don't know when that started. Quite a while ago. Because I . . . when they're doing their best I don't get their best. So I try to persuade them to be average. Because if you're wonderful and you're average, you're still wonderful. If you're a bad improviser and you're average, you're what you are.

  Keith Johnstone

  Average, People, Trying

  Source: actorsandperformers.com

  33 Copy quote

• Don't come on to be funny - come on to solve problems.

  Keith Johnstone

  Problem, Solve

  18 Copy quote

• At school any spontaneous act was likely to get me into trouble. I learned never to act on impulse, and that whatever came into my mind first should be rejected in favour of better ideas. I learned that my imagination Wasn’t ‘good’ enough. I learned that the first idea was unsatisfactory because it was (1) psychotic; (2) obscene; (3) unoriginal. The truth is that the best ideas are often psychotic, obscene and unoriginal.

  Keith Johnstone

  School, Ideas, Imagination

  Keith Johnstone (2017). “Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre”, p.82, Bloomsbury Publishing

  64 Copy quote

• An artist who is inspired is being obvious. He’s not making any decisions, he’s not weighing one idea against another. He’s accepting his first thoughts.

  Keith Johnstone

  Artist, Ideas, Decision

  Keith Johnstone (1981). “Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre”, p.88, Routledge

  44 Copy quote

• In life most of us are highly skilled at suppressing action. Bad improvisers block action often with a high degree of skill. Good improvisers develop action.

  Keith Johnstone

  Block, Skills, Degrees

  Keith Johnstone (1981). “Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre”, p.95, Routledge

  49 Copy quote

• Trying to do better is trying to be better than you actually are, and I don't think you can do that.

  Keith Johnstone

  Thinking, Trying, Can Do

  Source: actorsandperformers.com

  9 Copy quote

• If it weren't for fear, I wouldn't have to teach you a damn thing

  Keith Johnstone

  Damn, Teach, Damn Things

  18 Copy quote

• Every time you go the way the audience expects, they'll think you're original. People laugh with pleasure at the obvious.

  Keith Johnstone

  Thinking, People, Laughing

  46 Copy quote

• Many teachers think of children as immature adults. It might lead to better and more 'respectful' teaching, if we thought of adults as atrophied children. Many 'well-adjusted' adults are bitter, uncreative, frightened, unimaginative, and rather hostile people. Instead of assuming they were born that way, or that that's what being an adult entails, we might consider them as people damaged by their education and upbringing.

  Keith Johnstone

  Teacher, Children, Teaching

  38 Copy quote

• In a normal education everything is designed to suppress spontaneity, but I wanted to develop it.

  Keith Johnstone

  Normal, Spontaneity, Wanted

  Keith Johnstone (1981). “Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre”, p.15, Routledge

  25 Copy quote

• I'm not against work, I think work is great, I work a lot; but if you want to play, the consequences must not be important.

  Keith Johnstone

  Thinking, Play, Important

  Source: actorsandperformers.com

  10 Copy quote

• The problem's always been to deal with the fear.Cos the fear is pretty . . . it ruins everybody really.

  Keith Johnstone

  Ruins, Problem, Deals

  Source: actorsandperformers.com

  9 Copy quote

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