Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Marcel Marceau, born Marcel Mangel

French Actor and Mime best known for his persona as Bip the Clown

"Life’s meaning rests in the eye of the beholder and in our constant desire to approach perfection. Life is so immense and complex that there is no one truth, only the rule of destiny... We do not choose life; life chooses us. Yet we try to follow our destiny, our passion our drive. We must live every minute as if it is our first and our last... The meaning of life lies in our desire to help others... Earthly life is an eternal miracle. In a moment of grace, we can grasp eternity in the palm of our hand."

"Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without words?"

"Earthly life is an eternal miracle. In a moment of grace, we can grasp eternity in the palm of our hand. This is the gift given to creative individuals who can identify with the mysteries of life through art. It is a divine gift, this spirit of humanity. It is the fight for light over shadow."

"In silence and movement you can show the reflection of people."

"To communicate through silence is a link between the thoughts of man."

"I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an endless labyrinth. I have tried to shed some gleams of light on the shadow of man startled by his anguish."

"Music and silence combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music."

"Chaplin made me laugh and cry without saying a word. I had an instinct. I was touched by the soul of Chaplin ? Mime is not an imitator but a creator."

"Fathers, I do not practice. I?m not religious in life, but when I perform "The Creation of the World" and when my soul is touched by the confrontation of "Good and Evil", then God enters in me."

"I have spent more than half a lifetime trying to express the tragic moment."

"It's good to shut up sometimes."

"Never get a mime talking. He won't stop."

"Mime makes the invisible, visible and the visible, invisible."

"No! [in Silent Movie ? only spoken word]"

"Music conveys moods and images. Even in opera, where plots deal with the structure of destiny, it's music, not words, that provides power."

"What sculptors do is represent the essence of gesture. What is important in mime is attitude."

"No art is superior to another one, but every art looks for expertise and perfection. This is life, which continues; this is why there is no death. There is continuation. There is no silence. There is a continuation of thought."

"Silence is like a flame, you see?"