... Actors Of The First Water Are

I Refuse The Title Of Artist To Those Who Owe Their Reputations To A Physical Deformity. I Regard Them As Buffoons.

The Artist's Personality Must Be Left In His Dressing-room; His Soul Must Be Denuded Of Its Own Sensations And Clothed With The Base Or Noble Qualities He Is Called Upon To Exhibit.... [he] Must Leave Behind Him The Cares And Vexations Of Life, Throw Aside His Personality For Several Hours, And Move In The Dream Of Another Life, Forgetting Everything.

If I Have A Foreign Accent—which I Much Regret—it Is Cosmopolitan, But Not Teutonic. I Am A Daughter Of The Great Jewish Race, And My Somewhat Uncultivated Language Is The Outcome Of Our Enforced Wanderings.

... Actors Of The First Water Are Not More Plentiful Than Playwrights Of Genius.

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.