French actress (1844-1923)
Had my child been a clergyman's probably he would have been strangled at birth.
SARAH BERNHARDT
response to a clergyman who denounced her for having a child out of wedlock, "The first modern celebrity was born 175 years ago", Vox, June 26, 2019
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.
SARAH BERNHARDT
The Fabulous Life of Sarah Bernhardt
Permanent success cannot be achieved except by incessant intellectual labour, always inspired by the ideal.
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
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
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!
SARAH BERNHARDT
My Double Life
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
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
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