A mime is a terrible thing to waste.
Marcel MarceauRead
I was brought up in a Jewish home, but I was brought up to be human - not fanatical, which is something that I don't appreciate at all. I learned to become a humanist and not to dwell on the differences between Jews and Christians.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of humanity over religious fanaticism and divisiveness.
Marcel Marceau reflects on his upbringing in a Jewish household, highlighting that his education focused more on humanism than on strict religious identity. He expresses disdain for fanaticism and advocates for understanding and unity among different faiths, specifically pointing out that one should not let religious differences divide them but rather embrace common human values.
In practice
In a discussion about religious tolerance, this quote can be used to illustrate the value of common humanity.
A mime is a terrible thing to waste.
In a clown, we see what we do that makes us laugh and cry. I kept the white face, the tradition of the Pierrot. My clown became a romantic and stylized figure. I wanted to be an abstract and concrete figure, a symbol of humanity.
Mime makes the invisible, visible and the visible, invisible.
I am a company in myself. My repertoire has become a bible for all mimes in the world.
When you're in a play, 50 percent is the genius of the actor, 50 percent is the genius of the author. When a mime is not perfect, you see nothing.
Music and silence combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music.
It is hard to know when we have done enough for the Atonement to change our natures and so qualify us for eternal life. And we don't know how many days we will have to give the service necessary for that mighty change to come. But we know that we will have days enough if only we don't waste them.
Let us be moral. Let us contemplate existence.
Fiction shows the external effects of internal conditions. Be aware of the tension between internal and external movement.
You ought not to be rude to an eagle, when you are only the size of a hobbit, and are up in hid eyrie at night!
Fortunately, the time has long passed when people liked to regard the United States as some kind of melting pot, taking men and women from every part of the world and converting them into standardized, homogenized Americans. We are, I think, much more mature and wise today. Just as we welcome a world of diversity, so we glory in an America of diversity -- an America all the richer for the many different and distinctive strands of which it is woven.
We cannot understand all the traits we have inherited. Sometimes we can be strangers to ourselves.
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