The old-fashioned idea that the simple piling up of experiences, one on top of another, can make you an artist, is, of course, so much rubbish. If acting were just a matter of experience, then any busy harlot could make Garbo's Camille pale.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Experience alone does not make an artist. Talent and specific skill are required beyond mere accumulation of events.
- In plain terms
- Simply having many experiences does not make you a skilled artist.
- What can you take from it?
- Experience without skill does not create art.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does experience equal skill?
- What makes a true artist?
Another view
Experience is still a valuable part of learning.
More from Helen Hayes
The flattering, if arbitrary, label, First Lady of the Theatre, takes its toll. The demands are great, not only in energy but eventually in dramatic focus. It …
Permalink to quote #10 Egocentrics are attracted to the inept. It gives them one more excuse for patting themselves on the back.
Permalink to quote #12 Actors work and slave-and it is the color of your hair that can determine your fate in the end.
Permalink to quote #9
Related quotes
There are two classes of poets - the poets by education and practice, these we respect; and poets by nature, these we love.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson quote #23 Expression, sentiment, truth to nature, are essential: but all those are not enough. I never care to look at a picture again, if it be ill composed; and if wel…
John RuskinJohn Ruskin quote #45 That Shakespeare wanted Art.
Ben JonsonBen Jonson quote #56