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I have often seen an actor laugh off the stage, but I don't remember ever having seen one weep.
Bette Davis
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects on the emotional contrast of actors' performances versus their real emotions.

Bette Davis's quote highlights the tendency of actors to project joy and laughter in their performances while rarely showing vulnerability or sadness in public. It suggests a deeper commentary on the nature of performance art, indicating that while actors may embody various characters' emotions on stage, their true feelings often remain hidden from the audience.

Themes

ActingEmotionPerformanceArtTheater

In practice

Example use cases

During a workshop on acting techniques, this quote can be used to discuss the difference between stage performance and real emotions.

More from Bette Davis

I am doomed to an eternity of compulsive work. No set goal achieved satisfies. Success only breeds a new goal. The golden apple devoured has seeds. It is endless.
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I have been uncompromising, peppery, intractable, monomaniacal, tactless, volatile, and oftentimes disagreeable... I suppose I'm larger than life.
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Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life.
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Today everyone is a star - they're all billed as 'starring' or 'also starring'. In my day, we earned that recognition.
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Once the love bug wears off, as it inevitably does, you are shocked to discover that you really didn't know the object of your affections at all. We know this to be so, even as we repeat the same mistake over and over and over.
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If everybody likes you, you're pretty dull.
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