--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The difference between great actors and…" description: "\"The difference between great actors and the rest of us isn't simply that they know how to make more out of less, but that, like lions at the watering h..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fa/john-burnham-schwartz-22392_actor_the-difference-between-great-actors-and_1537215.jpg" --- # The difference between great actors and the rest of us… ![“The difference between great actors and the rest of us isn't simply that they know how to make more out of less, but that, like lions at the watering hole, they will always take more than their share from the pool of available resources - extra air from the room, added knowledge from our faces.” quote by John Burnham Schwartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fa/john-burnham-schwartz-22392_actor_the-difference-between-great-actors-and_1537215.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fa/john-burnham-schwartz-22392_actor_the-difference-between-great-actors-and_1537215.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fa/john-burnham-schwartz-22392_actor_the-difference-between-great-actors-and_1537215.jpg) > “The difference between great actors and the rest of us isn't simply that they know how to make more out of less, but that, like lions at the watering hole, they will always take more than their share from the pool of available resources - extra air from the room, added knowledge from our faces.” [John Burnham Schwartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burnham-schwartz/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Great actors maximize limited resources, extracting more than others, akin to lions dominating a watering hole. **In simple terms:** They take more from what’s available. Key Takeaway Leverage scarcity to stand out. Themes resourcefulness competition creativity Mood ambitious strategic cautionary Type advice observation philosophical When to use this quote - theatre auditions - business pitches - networking events - creative collaborations Key Concepts scarcity mindset strategic advantage Questions to Reflect On - How can you use resources ethically? - When does taking more become harmful? A Different Perspective May exploit others and cause resentment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Actor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actor/) [Actors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actors/) [Actors Rest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actors-rest-5716778/) [Added](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/added/) [Air](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/air/) [Always](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/always/) [Available](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/available/) [Between](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/between/) [Difference](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/difference/) [Extra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extra/) [Extra Air](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extra-air-5716777/) [Faces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faces/) [Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great/) [Great actors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-actors/) [Hole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hole/) [How](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/how/) [Know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Less](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/less/) [Like](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like/) [Like Lions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-lions-479895/) [Lions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lions/) [Make](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/make/) [More](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/more/) [Our](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/our/) [Out](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/out/) [Pool](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pool/) [Resources](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/resources/) [Rest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rest/) [Room](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/room/) [Share](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/share/) [Simply](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/simply/) [Take](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/take/) [Than](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/than/) [Theatre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theatre/) [Us](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/us/) [Watering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/watering/) [Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/will/) ## Related quotes > [“Rise like lions after slumber In unvanquishable number Shake your chains to earth like dew We are many, they are few”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/rise-like-lions-after-slumber-in-unvanquishable-number-shake-your/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [“Men of England, heirs of Glory, Heroes of unwritten story, Nurslings of one mighty Mother, Hopes of her, and one another; Rise like Lions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/men-of-england-heirs-of-glory-heroes-of-unwritten-story-nurslings-of/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [Human relationships at the beginning of love is fearless like lions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/human-relationships-at-the-beginning-of-love-is-fearless-like-lions/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'll be honest with you man. 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Im sure thats pretty awesome.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marion-cotillard/you-know-what-i-would-love-to-go-into-an-animals-dream-like-a-lions/) [Marion Cotillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marion-cotillard/) > [We shall have to work like lions, keeping the ideal before us, without caring whether "the wise ones praise or blame us".](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/we-shall-have-to-work-like-lions-keeping-the-ideal-before-us-without/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [“The Alion king,” Bella said. “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight,” she singsonged. “I wonder if he looks anything like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milly-taiden/the-alion-king-bella-said-in-the-jungle-the-mighty-jungle-the-lion/) [Milly Taiden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milly-taiden/) > [“One must be a fox in order to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves. 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My father was his lawyer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burnham-schwartz/for-a-couple-of-years-at-the-end-of-the-1970s-dustin-hoffman-was-a/) [John Burnham Schwartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burnham-schwartz/) > [I have long admired the visceral storytelling and moral complexity of John Vaillant’s brilliant non-fiction about humankind’s tragically ambivalent relationship with the natural world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burnham-schwartz/i-have-long-admired-the-visceral-storytelling-and-moral-complexity-of/) [John Burnham Schwartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burnham-schwartz/) > [“Why? What had she ever done? What had any of them ever done? To give a child only to take him away. 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How she seemed to be waiting, the door still between us, for me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burnham-schwartz/i-sat-thinking-how-it-was-she-who-d-mentioned-love-first-how-she/) [John Burnham Schwartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burnham-schwartz/) > [Had I not gone to Japan in 1986, had I stayed home and majored in English literature as I'd intended to do, I might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burnham-schwartz/had-i-not-gone-to-japan-in-1986-had-i-stayed-home-and-majored-in/) [John Burnham Schwartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burnham-schwartz/) > [“She was Mattie Tucker now, mother of three and a good forty pounds heavier, casting that burning eye over them all, reaching way back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burnham-schwartz/she-was-mattie-tucker-now-mother-of-three-and-a-good-forty-pounds/) [John Burnham Schwartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burnham-schwartz/) > [I was 12. 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And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warwick-davis/if-you-stood-me-in-a-costume-next-to-a-computer-graphic-of-the-same/) [Warwick Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warwick-davis/) > [failure in the theater is more public, more brilliant, more unreal than in any other field.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/failure-in-the-theater-is-more-public-more-brilliant-more-unreal-than/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [I'm a character actor - always have been, always will be - and historically, character actors don't come into their own until later in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-potts/i-m-a-character-actor-always-have-been-always-will-be-and/) [Annie Potts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-potts/) > [Actors don't hate acting. Most people don't hate acting! 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