Quotes from bernhardt sarah ii

The dramatic art would appear to be rather a feminine art; it contains in itself all the artifices which belong to the province ofwoman: the desire to please, facility to express emotions and hide defects, and the faculty of assimilation which is the real essence of woman.

Permanent success cannot be achieved except by incessant intellectual labour, always inspired by the ideal.

Politics and governments -- they are more than I can understand. Present systems are corrupted by personal ambition. It is all so complicated and insincere. Conditions are much worse now than they were during the war. In 1914 we went into the fight without argument. We finished it with very little, but now, strangely enough, comes all the wrangling, the restrictions, the selfishness.

Although all new ideas are born in France, they are not readily adopted there. It seems that they must first commence to prosper in a foreign country.

Life is, alas, one eternal combat.

So my illnesses create a disturbance? They attack me without warning and leave me insensible wherever I may be. I cannot be expected, before feeling ill, to ask people who happen to be there to leave the room.

Actors of the first water are not more plentiful than playwrights of genius.

I have often been asked why I am so fond of playing male parts.... As a matter of fact, it is not male parts, but male brains that I prefer.

The actor is too prone to exaggerate his powers; he wants to play Hamlet when his appearance is more suitable to King Lear.

I adored my mother, but with a touching and fervent desire to leave her, never to see her again, to sacrifice her to God.

What would life be without art? Science prolongs life. To consist of what--eating, drinking, and sleeping? What is the good of living longer if it is only a matter of satisfying the requirements that sustain life? All this is nothing without the charm of art.

I am always studying character. Everyone I meet is a new study.

My life has been a struggle -- a struggle to have my own way where I felt I was in the right.

In the theater it is better to have long arms, long rather than short: an actor with short arms can never make a fine gesture!

Me pray? Never! I'm an atheist.