--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I'd do anything to get a performance…" description: "\"I'd do anything to get a performance, short of malice.\" — Sean Penn" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd7/sean-penn-3005_malice_i-d-do-anything-to-get-a-performance-sho_2895412.png" --- # I'd do anything to get a performance, short of malice. ![“I'd do anything to get a performance, short of malice.” quote by Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd7/sean-penn-3005_malice_i-d-do-anything-to-get-a-performance-sho_2895412.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd7/sean-penn-3005_malice_i-d-do-anything-to-get-a-performance-sho_2895412.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd7/sean-penn-3005_malice_i-d-do-anything-to-get-a-performance-sho_2895412.png) > “I'd do anything to get a performance, short of malice.” [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He would do anything for a performance, except act with malice. **In simple terms:** Perform without malice. Key Takeaway Maintain integrity in art. Themes integrity performance ethics Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - theatre - film production Key Concepts acting philosophy creative process Questions to Reflect On - How do you keep art ethical? - What boundaries define your performance? A Different Perspective Malice can corrupt art. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Malice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/malice/) [Performance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/performance/) ## Related quotes > [“Koch believed that what the famed economist Joseph Schumpeter called "creative destruction" was so critical to the health of the capitalist system that empathy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-maclean/koch-believed-that-what-the-famed-economist-joseph-schumpeter-called/) [Nancy MacLean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-maclean/) > [“The threads of malice creeping toward him from Beloved's side of the table were held harmless in the warmth of Sethe's smile.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/the-threads-of-malice-creeping-toward-him-from-beloved-s-side-of-the/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [People are more slanderous from vanity than from malice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/people-are-more-slanderous-from-vanity-than-from-malice/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [“Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/never-attribute-to-malice-that-which-can-be-adequately-explained-by/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Stupidity without malice isn't horrible; some people can't help it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ricky-gervais/stupidity-without-malice-isn-t-horrible-some-people-can-t-help-it/) [Ricky Gervais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ricky-gervais/) > [ \[Dada is\] perfectly kindhearted malice, alongside exact photography the only legitimate pictorial form of communication and balance in shared experience. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raoul-hausmann/dada-is-perfectly-kindhearted-malice-alongside-exact-photography-the/) Raoul Hausmann > [A noble heart cannot suspect in others the pettiness and malice that it has never felt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-racine/a-noble-heart-cannot-suspect-in-others-the-pettiness-and-malice-that/) [Jean Racine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-racine/) > [You long for one true friend? You have one. And because you do, you have a choice. You can... ponder the malice of your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-lucado/you-long-for-one-true-friend-you-have-one-and-because-you-do-you-have/) [Max Lucado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-lucado/) > [Malice sucks up the greatest part of its own venom, and poisons itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/malice-sucks-up-the-greatest-part-of-its-own-venom-and-poisons-itself/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to assume that their president, hostile to the principles that formed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shapiro/when-in-the-course-of-human-events-it-becomes-necessary-for-one/) [David Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shapiro/) > [“Monsters don’t exist. It’s men you should be afraid of, not monsters.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccol-ammaniti/monsters-don-t-exist-it-s-men-you-should-be-afraid-of-not-monsters/) [Niccolò Ammaniti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccol-ammaniti/) > [The tongue of slander is too prompt with wanton malice to wound the stranger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/the-tongue-of-slander-is-too-prompt-with-wanton-malice-to-wound-the/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [Life is a magic vase filled to the brim, so made that you cannot dip from it nor draw from it; but it overflows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ruskin/life-is-a-magic-vase-filled-to-the-brim-so-made-that-you-cannot-dip/) [John Ruskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ruskin/) > [I realize more and more how instinctively pessimistic I am of all human kindness -- since I am always so bowled over by it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dawn-powell/i-realize-more-and-more-how-instinctively-pessimistic-i-am-of-all/) [Dawn Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dawn-powell/) > [“Was he, after all, really a bad man doing a brilliant impersonation of an idiot? It was hard to tell. The connections between stupidity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-st-aubyn/was-he-after-all-really-a-bad-man-doing-a-brilliant-impersonation-of/) [Edward St. Aubyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-st-aubyn/) ## More by Sean Penn > [A SWAT team surrounded my house and came in every door. But it happened because on the day that we split up, Madonna developed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/a-swat-team-surrounded-my-house-and-came-in-every-door-but-it/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [The advice you give to young directors for sure is to go out and become some version of a successful movie actor. Do that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/the-advice-you-give-to-young-directors-for-sure-is-to-go-out-and/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without, in my opinion, lessening its beauty and its impact. Frankly, I'm still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/a-clearer-and-more-conventional-narrative-would-have-helped-the-film/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [I think that people like the Howard Sterns, the Bill O'Reillys and to a lesser degree the bin Ladens of the world are making…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/i-think-that-people-like-the-howard-sterns-the-bill-o-reillys-and-to/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [That on a romantic level, if you feel it about somebody and it's pure, it means that they do too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/that-on-a-romantic-level-if-you-feel-it-about-somebody-and-it-s-pure/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [In between, I go broke because I seem to do movies where you're not paid a lot as an actor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/in-between-i-go-broke-because-i-seem-to-do-movies-where-you-re-not/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [It has nothing to do with the emotional demands of a role; I've done comedies that are as draining to me as any drama.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/it-has-nothing-to-do-with-the-emotional-demands-of-a-role-i-ve-done/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [Marriage ain't easy, but it's great most of the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/marriage-ain-t-easy-but-it-s-great-most-of-the-time/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [Well, look at all of these summer blockbusters. You can't help but laugh a little, because you've already seen a lot of these movies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/well-look-at-all-of-these-summer-blockbusters-you-can-t-help-but/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [I don't see myself as a different guy than I was ten years ago. I don't have aspirations to be. It's really about where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/i-don-t-see-myself-as-a-different-guy-than-i-was-ten-years-ago-i-don/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [Well, the kind of central question: "Do you want to live - and I don't mean stay alive - do you want to feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/well-the-kind-of-central-question-do-you-want-to-live-and-i-don-t/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [Haiti, like any place, has its security problems; it has a great challenge in terms of establishing a kind of globally acceptable rule of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/haiti-like-any-place-has-its-security-problems-it-has-a-great/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [I'm a huge Woody Allen fan. Good movie, bad movie, it doesn't matter - I just like his movies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/i-m-a-huge-woody-allen-fan-good-movie-bad-movie-it-doesn-t-matter-i/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [Sacrificing American soldiers or innocent civilians in an unprecedented preemptive attack on a separate sovereign nation may well prove itself a most temporary medicine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/sacrificing-american-soldiers-or-innocent-civilians-in-an/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) > [There is no shame in my saying that we all want to be loved by someone. As I look back over my life in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/there-is-no-shame-in-my-saying-that-we-all-want-to-be-loved-by/) [Sean Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) [Explore all 142 Sean Penn quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/) ## More Malice quotes > [“Koch believed that what the famed economist Joseph Schumpeter called "creative destruction" was so critical to the health of the capitalist system that empathy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-maclean/koch-believed-that-what-the-famed-economist-joseph-schumpeter-called/) [Nancy MacLean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-maclean/) > [I realize more and more how instinctively pessimistic I am of all human kindness -- since I am always so bowled over by it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dawn-powell/i-realize-more-and-more-how-instinctively-pessimistic-i-am-of-all/) [Dawn Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dawn-powell/) > [Life is a magic vase filled to the brim, so made that you cannot dip from it nor draw from it; but it overflows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ruskin/life-is-a-magic-vase-filled-to-the-brim-so-made-that-you-cannot-dip/) [John Ruskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ruskin/) > [The tongue of slander is too prompt with wanton malice to wound the stranger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/the-tongue-of-slander-is-too-prompt-with-wanton-malice-to-wound-the/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [“Monsters don’t exist. It’s men you should be afraid of, not monsters.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccol-ammaniti/monsters-don-t-exist-it-s-men-you-should-be-afraid-of-not-monsters/) [Niccolò Ammaniti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccol-ammaniti/) > [When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to assume that their president, hostile to the principles that formed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shapiro/when-in-the-course-of-human-events-it-becomes-necessary-for-one/) [David Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shapiro/) > [Malice sucks up the greatest part of its own venom, and poisons itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/malice-sucks-up-the-greatest-part-of-its-own-venom-and-poisons-itself/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [You long for one true friend? You have one. And because you do, you have a choice. You can... ponder the malice of your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-lucado/you-long-for-one-true-friend-you-have-one-and-because-you-do-you-have/) [Max Lucado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-lucado/) > [A noble heart cannot suspect in others the pettiness and malice that it has never felt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-racine/a-noble-heart-cannot-suspect-in-others-the-pettiness-and-malice-that/) [Jean Racine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-racine/) > [ \[Dada is\] perfectly kindhearted malice, alongside exact photography the only legitimate pictorial form of communication and balance in shared experience. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raoul-hausmann/dada-is-perfectly-kindhearted-malice-alongside-exact-photography-the/) Raoul Hausmann > [Stupidity without malice isn't horrible; some people can't help it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ricky-gervais/stupidity-without-malice-isn-t-horrible-some-people-can-t-help-it/) [Ricky Gervais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ricky-gervais/) > [“Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/never-attribute-to-malice-that-which-can-be-adequately-explained-by/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [People are more slanderous from vanity than from malice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/people-are-more-slanderous-from-vanity-than-from-malice/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [“The threads of malice creeping toward him from Beloved's side of the table were held harmless in the warmth of Sethe's smile.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/the-threads-of-malice-creeping-toward-him-from-beloved-s-side-of-the/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [“Was he, after all, really a bad man doing a brilliant impersonation of an idiot? It was hard to tell. The connections between stupidity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-st-aubyn/was-he-after-all-really-a-bad-man-doing-a-brilliant-impersonation-of/) [Edward St. Aubyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-st-aubyn/) [Browse all 413 Malice quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/malice/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I'd do anything to get a performance, short of malice.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sean Penn" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/i-d-do-anything-to-get-a-performance-short-of-malice/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Malice" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/i-d-do-anything-to-get-a-performance-short-of-malice/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd7/sean-penn-3005_malice_i-d-do-anything-to-get-a-performance-sho_2895412.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd7/sean-penn-3005_malice_i-d-do-anything-to-get-a-performance-sho_2895412.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd7/sean-penn-3005_malice_i-d-do-anything-to-get-a-performance-sho_2895412.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I'd do anything to get a performance, short of malice.” — Sean Penn", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Sean Penn", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-penn/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I'd do anything to get a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/i-d-do-anything-to-get-a-performance-short-of-malice/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-penn/i-d-do-anything-to-get-a-performance-short-of-malice/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```