Antony Sher Quotes

• I have a Woody Allen Jewish attitude to life: that it's all going to be disastrous. That it hasn't all been that way is simply down to some random quirk of fate.

  Antony Sher

  Attitude, Fate, Way

  "This much I know". Interview with Stuart Husband, www.theguardian.com. May 30, 2009.

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• Now the dressing-room full of RSC hierarchy. Suddenly Trevor Nunn pushes his way through and 'Trevs' me. I've heard a lot about this 'Trevving', but never had it done to me. From what I'd heard, a 'Trev' is an arm round your shoulder and a sideways squeeze. But this 'Trev' is a full frontal hug, so complete and so intimate that the dressing-room instantly clears, as if by suction. I'm left alone in the arms of this famous man wondering whether it's polite to let go.

  Antony Sher

  Letting Go, Men, Hug

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• The effort of learning. It's the same when you approach any new skill or technique, from a dance step to driving a car. The effort of learning stops you, at first, from doing it well.

  Antony Sher

  Skills, Car, Effort

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• As we're leaving the King's Arms Hotel after Sunday lunch, I watch a beautiful white dove walking down the wet road. A car approaches and the bird accidentally turns into the wheel rather than away from it. A gentle crunch. The car passes. A shape like a discarded napkin left in the road. Still perfectly white, no red stains, but bearing no relation anymore to the shape of a bird. A trail of white feathers flutter down the road after the car. The suddeness is very upsetting. That gentle crunch.

  Antony Sher

  Beautiful, Kings, Sunday

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• I believe deeply in therapy. There's no one in the world who wouldn't benefit from it.

  Antony Sher

  Believe, Benefits, World

  "This much I know". Interview with Stuart Husband, www.theguardian.com. May 30, 2009.

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• I love playing outsiders, I always do.

  Antony Sher

  Outsiders

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• I feel so sorry for younger actors who aren't able to have the opportunities that I had, starting out in repertory theatre. It's really tough on young actors now.

  Antony Sher

  Sorry, Opportunity, Theatre

  "Antony Sher, actor - portrait of the artist". Interview with Laura Barnett, www.theguardian.com. February 12, 2013.

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• Most of my career has been spent with the RSC doing Shakespeare, and the thing you learn from Shakespeare is that his historical plays don't bear anything other than a basic resemblance to history.

  Antony Sher

  Resemblance Is, Play, Careers

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• If I could write a letter to my teenage self I'd probably say something like: "You ain't gonna believe what will become of you."

  Antony Sher

  Teenage, Believe, Writing

  "This much I know". Interview with Stuart Husband, www.theguardian.com. May 30, 2009.

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• I was a weak kid, not good at what all the boys at school were good at and I found that by acting, by being other people, I could liberate myself from those inadequacies.

  Antony Sher

  School, Kids, Boys

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• Every play I do, every book I write, every painting I paint, I will struggle with. I don't know what it's like for a project to come easy.

  Antony Sher

  Struggle, Book, Writing

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• A lot of good actors tend to be quite introverted as people.

  Antony Sher

  People, Actors, Introverted

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• What drew me to acting in the first place was disguise.

  Antony Sher

  Acting, Firsts, Disguise

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• I don't believe in an afterlife.

  Antony Sher

  Believe, Afterlife, Don't Believe

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• I can feel the power of the words doing the work. Must trust language more.

  Antony Sher

  Language, Feels, I Can

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• I've been quoting the book [on Peter Sutcliffe] constantly in rehearsals. Some members of the cast have stated their disapproval that it should even have been written. Some of the women have expressed more - disgust and anger. What are they saying? They'd prefer not to know, not to understand? They'd prefer certain areas of life to be censored? Isn't that partly what breeds the Sutcliffes and the Nilsens?

  Antony Sher

  Book, Rehearsal, Members

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• I was never built to play the hero. Physically or emotionally... And they're not as rewarding to play. At least for me.

  Antony Sher

  Hero, Play, Built

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• The whole of my acting career is a bit of a mystery to me.

  Antony Sher

  Careers, Acting, Mystery

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• When I'm painting and drawing I only do people. Acting is obviously portraiture - and writing is as well.

  Antony Sher

  Writing, Drawing, People

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• I'm always very proud of belonging to three minorities: gay, Jewish, white South African.

  Antony Sher

  Gay, White, Three

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• As a gay Jewish white South African, I belong to quite a lot of minority groups. You constantly have to question who you are, what you are and whether you have the courage to be who you are.

  Antony Sher

  Courage, Gay, White

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• I'm a huge fan of David Hockney. I love the way he keeps reinventing himself.

  Antony Sher

  Fans, Way, Huge

  "Antony Sher, actor - portrait of the artist". Interview with Laura Barnett, www.theguardian.com. February 12, 2013.

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• I love the mixture that's in me. It makes me me. And that's why it's such a shame that people waste energy in denying who they are.

  Antony Sher

  People, Energy, Mixtures

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• My grandparents all came from Lithuania to South Africa. My first novel, Middlepost, is a fictional account of that journey.

  Antony Sher

  Grandparent, Lithuania, South

  "Antony Sher: 'Painting and writing stop me going crazy'". Interview with Tim Adams, www.theguardian.com. January 14, 2012.

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• I'm a complete technophobe. I can't even email.

  Antony Sher

  Email, I Can

  "This much I know". Interview with Stuart Husband, www.theguardian.com. May 30, 2009.

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