French actress (1844-1923)
Actors of the first water are not more plentiful than playwrights of genius.
SARAH BERNHARDT
The Art of the Theatre
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.
SARAH BERNHARDT
The Art of the Theatre
My costume was a failure; it did not fit me. They had always jeered at me for my thinness and in this dress I looked like an English teapot.
SARAH BERNHARDT
Memories of My Life
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.
SARAH BERNHARDT
The Art of the Theatre
He who is incapable of feeling strong passions, of being shaken by anger, of living in every sense of the word, will never be a good actor.
SARAH BERNHARDT
The Art of the Theatre
Victor Hugo could not promise without keeping his word. He was not like me: I promise everything with the firm intention of keeping my promises, and two hours after I have forgotten all about them. If any one reminds me of what I have promised, I tear my hair, and to make up for my forgetfulness I say anything, I buy presents -- in fact, I complicate my life with useless worries. It has always been thus, and always will be so.
SARAH BERNHARDT
My Double Life
Permanent success cannot be achieved except by incessant intellectual labour, always inspired by the ideal.
SARAH BERNHARDT
The Art of the Theatre
I adored my mother, but with a touching and fervent desire to leave her, never to see her again, to sacrifice her to God.
SARAH BERNHARDT
My Double Life
I often go away just for the pure joy of coming back to my wonderful Paris.
SARAH BERNHARDT
"Bernhardt Triumphs in New Role", Theatre Magazine, 1920