“A Mob’s a Monster; Heads enough, but no Brains.”

Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack

A scene from Hitler: The Last Ten Days, directed by Ennio De Concini and starring Alec Guinness as Adolf Hitler:

(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

“Power is never stable when it is boundless.”

Tacitus, History

From 2011:

Directing is mainly listening. The director’s first job is to ensure that the actor speaks the text in such a way as to make it intelligible to members of the audience who have not already seen it on the printed page.

When you’re talking, you’re not listening….

“It is the prerogative of great men to have great defects.”

Rouchefoucauld, Maxims

William Walton talks about his life and work and is seen conducting his own music:

(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

“There are some bad qualities which make great talents.”

Rochefoucauld, Maxims

“We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself?”

Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (courtesy of Rod Dreher)