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We all know that much of what we hear in life is not really so. Canned laughter and 'sweetened' applause have been TV staples for decades, and all the slamming doors, breaking glass and squealing tires you hear in movies are sound effects.

Applause that comes thundering with such force you might think the audience merely suffers the music as an excuse for its ovations.

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

Sometimes I wish that applause would come just a bit later, when it is so beautifully hushed that I feel like holding my breath in the silence of the end.

Laughter is much more important than applause. Applause is almost a duty. Laughter is a reward.

Applause, it's very nice, of course. But when you're giving, and creating, and then there is the silence of everyone sitting there, listening, waiting, that is great.

Success listens only to applause. To all else it is deaf.

The applause is a celebration not only of the actors but also of the audience. It constitutes a shared moment of delight.

Applause should be an emotional response to the music, rather than a regulated social duty.

If you walk into a room and one hundred people say, 'You are a lovely, beautiful person', who isn't going to be affected by that? But you have to tell yourself not to value that. You have to tell yourself - or at least I do - to not become accustomed to hearing applause in any way, because I think that's dangerous.