Simulation of Feeling

Terry Teachout's blog is full of great stuff, both in the regular postings and the collections in the side bar. One thing he does is a daily quote, and here's today's:

"I very much disapprove of the adage that you have to feel the performance completely every night on the stage. This is technically an impossibility, and really is the negation of the art of acting. The art of acting, after all, is not actual feeling but simulation of feeling, and it is impossible to feel a strong emotional part eight performances a week, including two matinées."
Noël Coward, "The Art of Acting" (The Listener, Oct. 12, 1961)