Sarah Bernhardt
Birth Name: Henriette-Rosine Bernard
Nickname: Divine Sarah
Birthdate: October 22, 1844
Birthplace: Paris, France
Date of Death: March 26, 1923
Occupation: Actor
Profile: Best known for her golden voice and being one of the first international stars of sound recordings and motion pictures.
Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Bernhardt
Number of Quotes: 41
Actors are the only honest hypocrites. Our life is a lie, but we represent truth.
Reflecting on the paradox of acting.
Ah, jealousy! The worst of all tortures, the most cruel, the most vain, the most ridiculous!
On the destructive nature of jealousy.
All the pictures that hung in my memory before I knew you have faded and given place to our radiant moments
together. Now I cannot live apart from you ... Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me.
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.
Art is not about something, Art is something.
Cloak my shoulders, shield my heart, armor my feelings.
Reportedly said to her dresser, reflecting her need for protection offstage.
Each action of the actor on the stage should be the visible concomitant of his thoughts.
Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.
For the theatre one needs long arms... an artiste with short arms can never make a fine gesture.
Genius is eternal patience.
On the misconception of effortless talent.
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.
I adore Chicago. It is the pulse of America.
I adored him. He was so homely he was attractive. Besides, it is restful to talk to a man who is not trying to make love to you.
On her friend, the scientist Louis Pasteur.
I am a daughter of the sun... I need light.
Explaining her love for sunshine and travel.
I do love cricket – it's so very English.
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.
I have often been asked why I am so fond of playing male parts. It is because I
can only feel like a woman when I am one... On stage I am the man I dream of.
On her famous roles like Hamlet and L'Aiglon.
I have, thanks to my travels, added to my stock all the superstitions of other countries. I know them
all now, and in any critical moment of my life, they all rise up in armed legions for or against me.
I must have flowers, always, and always.
Expressing her well-known passion for flowers.
It is in spending oneself that one becomes rich.
On generosity and living fully.
Legend remains victorious in spite of history.
Life begets life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.
Life engenders life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.
My dear, for the theatre one needs long arms. It is better to have them too long than too short. You can always cut off the sleeves.
Advice to a young actress, emphasizing expressiveness on stage.
Once the curtain is raised, the actor is ceases to belong to himself. He belongs to his character, to his author, to his
public. He must do the impossible to identify himself with the first, not to betray the second, and not to disappoint the third.
Oscar Wilde: Do you mind if I
smoke?
Sarah Bernhardt: I don't care if you burn.
Permanent success cannot be achieved except by incessant intellectual labour, always inspired by the ideal.
The actor is too prone to exaggerate his powers; he wants to play Hamlet when his appearance is more suitable to King Lear.
The artist who cannot mold the public to his own image had better quit.
On the power and responsibility of the artist.
The gesture is the thing truly expressive of the individual—as we think so we will act.
On the connection between thought and physical expression in acting.
The theatre is the involuntary reflex of the ideas of the crowd.
The theatre is the most beautiful lie.
On the magic and artifice of performance.
The truth, the absolute truth, is that the chief beauty for the theatre consists in fine bodily proportions.
To be a good actor... it is necessary to have a firmly tempered soul, to be surprised at
nothing, to resume each minute the laborious task that has barely just been finished.
To be a success an actress must have the face of Venus, the brains of Minerva, the grace
of Terpsichore, the memory of Macaulay, the figure of Juno, and the hide of a rhinoceros.
On the demanding requirements of her profession.
We must live for the few who know and appreciate us, who judge and absolve us, and for whom we have the same
affection and indulgence. The rest I look upon as a mere crowd, lively or sad, loyal or corrupt, from whom there
is nothing to be expected but fleeting emotions, either pleasant or unpleasant, which leave no trace behind them.
On her inner circle versus the public.
We ought to hate very rarely, as it is too fatiguing; remain indifferent to a great deal, forgive often and never forget.
What matters poverty? What matters anything to him who is enamoured of our art? Does he not carry in himself every joy and every beauty?
When asked at age 79 why her Paris apartment was located up many flights of
stairs... It's the only way I can still make the hearts of men beat faster.
Why do you weep? Did you think I was immortal?
Reportedly said to her distraught dresser while gravely ill, demonstrating her defiance and dark humor.
Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me.
Last on Earth
