Alan Arkin (New York City 1934-2023) wrote in his memoir "Out of my mind" (2018): "When things get tense, when I start taking my work a bit too seriously, I remind myself that I'm only pretending to be a human being."
Autobiographical notes "Les rêveries du promeneur solitaire" ("Reveries of the Solitary Walker", 1776, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, published posthumously in 1778), chapter "Cinquième promenade" ("Fifth walk")