19 Quotes & Sayings By Stella Adler

Stella Adler was a pianist, actress, and teacher, who brought the concept of acting from the stage to the screen. She was a pioneer of American professional theatre, founding the Actors Studio in New York City in 1947. A native of New York City, Adler started performing at a young age and was a student of renowned acting teacher Otto Hulett. She began her career in theatre in 1920 with a role in The Barretts of Wimpole Street Read more

In 1922 she won a Tony Award for her performance in The Dark Tower. In 1935 she became the first woman to direct a Broadway show when she directed A Man for All Seasons. She later founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and was one of the most influential teachers in film history.

She died on April 27, 1967.

1
Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one Stella Adler
2
You should want to act only because you want to be led to something bigger in life. Stella Adler
3
You cannot afford to confine your studies to the classroom. The universe and all of history is your classroom. Stella Adler
4
You have to understand your best. Your best isn't Barrymore's best or Olivier's best or my best, but your own. Every person has his norm. And in that norm every person is a star. Olivier could stand on his head and still not be you. Only you can be you. What a privilege! Nobody can reach what you can if you do it. So do it. We need your best, your voice, your body. We don't need for you to imitate anybody, because that would be second best. And second best is no better than your worst. Stella Adler
5
You have to do something. If you do something, you become somebody. Even a daffodil does something, has a profession. It gives off scent, professionally. Stella Adler
6
You will only fail to learn if you do not learn from failing. Stella Adler
7
You will fail. That's great. Here's a secret for you - that's the only way you can learn. Learning has to cost you something. If you fail but learn something from your failure, you will grow. Stella Adler
8
The thing that makes you say, "I want to do something" - that is the beginning of talent. Stella Adler
9
No actor is a success unless he feels inside himself, as long as he lives, that he is good. Stella Adler
10
You'll never really be great unless you aim high. Stella Adler
11
If you can't take both sides, it means you can only play yourself. Stella Adler
12
Be innocent, wise and ninety-five. Stella Adler
13
The best author is a dead author, because he's out of your way and you own the play. Take what he has given you and use it for what you need. Stella Adler
14
The imagination is closer to the actor than real life-more agreeable, more comfortable. Stella Adler
15
The actor cannot afford to look only to his own life for all his material nor pull strictly from his own experience to find his acting choices and feelings. Stella Adler
16
The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation. Stella Adler
17
The theatre was created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation. Stella Adler
18
Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. Stella Adler