30 Ovation-Worthy Quotes About the Theatre

The theatre, the theatre... let's talk about the theatre! Today BroadwayWorld is celebrating out favorite art form with a collection of our favorite quotes about the theatre, acting, Broadway and more! Are you looking for inspiration or for a yearbook quote? We've got you covered.

What did we miss? Which quote about theater is YOUR favorite?

---

Quotes about theatre from Shakespeare:

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages." - As You Like It

"One man in his time plays many parts." - As You Like It

"If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 'tis true that a good play needs no epilogue."- As You Like It

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."- Macbeth

As in a theatre, the eyes of men, after a well-graced actor leaves the stage, are idly bent on him that enters next. - Richard II

---

Quotes about theatre from actors/playwrights:

"I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being." -Oscar Wilde

"Life is a theatre set in which there are but few practicable entrances." - Victor Hugo

"Of course we all come to the theatre with baggage. The baggage of our daily lives, the baggage of our problems, the baggage of our tragedies, the baggage of being tired. It doesn't matter what age you are. But if our hearts get opened and released -- well that is what theatre can do, and does sometimes, and everyone is thankful when that happens."- Vanessa Redgrave

"From the start it has been the theatre's business to entertain people ... it needs no other passport than fun." -Bertolt Brecht

"Love art in yourself, and not yourself in art." -Constantin Stanislavski

"I believe that in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, a great theatre is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture." -Sir Laurence Olivier

"I think the theatre is as essential to civilization as safe, pure water." -Vanessa Redgrave

"The theatre is so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental. It's so much like life." - Arthur Miller

"The theatre was created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation." -Stella Adler

"Theatre is a series of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster." - Tom Stoppard

"Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place." - Martha Graham

"When you come into the theater, you have to be willing to say, "We're all here to undergo a communion, to find out what the hell is going on in this world." If you're not willing to say that, what you get is entertainment instead of art, and poor entertainment at that." -David Mamet

"Movies will make you famous; Television will make you rich; But theatre will make you good." -Terrence Mann

"You should feel a flow of joy because you are alive. Your body will feel full of life. That is what you must give from the stage. Your life. No less. That is art: to give all you have." - Anton Chekhov

---

Lyrics from songs about theatre:

The overture is about to start
You cross your fingers and hold your heart
It's curtain time and away we go -
Another op'nin
Just another op'nin of another show!
-"Another Op'nin, Another Show," from Kiss Me, Kate

Yesterday they told you you would not go far,
that night you open and there you are.
Next day on your dressing room they've hung a star,
let's go on with the show!
-"There's No Business Like Showbusiness," from Annie Get Your Gun

We're a special kind of people known as show people
We live in a world of our own
Our days are tied to curtains
They rise and they fall
We're born every night
At Half-hour call
-"Show People," from Curtains

Something familiar,
Something peculiar,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
-"Comedy Tonight," from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

It's... a... musical
A musical
And nothing's as amazing as a
Musical
With song and dance
And sweet romance
And happy endings happening
By happenstance
-"A Musical," from Something Rotten!

I love play rehearsal
I happiness cry whenever it starts
It's just so universal
Getting to try playing so many parts
-"I Love Play Rehearsal," from Be More Chill

If it only even runs a minute
At least it's a wedge
It's the theater and we're really in it
Not just on the edge!
-"It's a Hit," from Merrily We Roll Along

They say I won't last too long on Broadway
I'll catch a Greyhound bus for home, they all say
But they're dead wrong, I know they are
'Cause I can play this guitar
And I won't quit til I'm a star on Broadway
-"On Broadway," from Smokey Joe's Cafe

Give my regards to Broadway
Remember me to Herald Square
Tell all the gang at Forty-Second Street
That I will soon be there
Whisper of how I'm yearning
To mingle with the old time throng
Give my regards to old Broadway
And say that I'll be there e'er long
-"Give My Regards to Broadway"

The world is a stage; the stage is a world of entertainment!
-"That's Entertainment"

What good is sitting alone In your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a cabaret, old chum,
Come to the cabaret.
-"Cabaret," from Cabaret