"Defying all predictions, the young Clara, who would later be pronounced attractive, graceful, and possessed of “treasured feminine charms,” majored in mathematics and graduated with a BA and high honours on 27 June 1890, at the age of 16."

"Despite Martin's heroic trailblazing, not until the middle of the 20th century did significant numbers of women enter the legal profession in Canada."

"Martin was not a leader of the women's movement, but she worked diligently to promote opportunities for women."

"Looking back at Martin's treatment by a patriarchal regime, it is abhorrent today that a woman could be denied personhood and thereby be barred from admittance to an organization for which she was well-qualified."

"After two years in that first war, we did not look at the casualty lists any more. There was nothing to look for. All our friends had gone."

"Am I dying, or is this my birthday?"

"I have found that men, in all other ways admirable, have insisted upon flattery, upon extreme tact, upon suppression of opinion, in short, upon the sort of extreme and conscious consideration one shows to children or to persons suffering from nervous ailments."

"Let me grow lovely, growing old— So many fine things do: Laces, and ivory, and gold, And silks need not be new;And there is healing in old trees. Old streets a glamour hold: Why may not I, as well as these, Grow lovely, growing old?"

"Some days my thoughts are just cocoons—all cold, and dull, and blind, They hang from dripping branches in the gray woods of my mind;And other days they drift and shine—such free and flying things! I find the gold-dust in my hair, left by their brushing wings."

"The long procession of priests in picturesque robes, and the group of feudal lords in their large ceremonial court costumes of many colors, made a memorable stage picture, and one, indeed, that the most extravagant of motion picture scenes might well emulate."

"A more disciplined stage than that of the Imperial can hardly be duplicated in any of the world's theater centers. The present repertory company has played together since the founding of the theater, and many of the younger actors have been associated with it since childhood."

"In the No the world of the real is left behind and the audience enters into a land of imagination; the face of the actor would clash with the non-realistic material of the play and the treatment."

"The western observer no doubt upon first impression may regard it as a hardchip that the girls of a family should do no more than gaze upon the beautiful dolls and be satisfied, and that these bright creatures of silk, embroidery and brocade from the hands of the skilled craftsmen are not to be touched, only to be admired at a distance. In brief, they are education, and so become removed from the sphere of ordinary playthings."

"Throughout the realm, the Hina Matsuri will be observed in the homes of rich and poor alike when a series of shelves, one rising above the other, and covered with a red cloth will be placed in the best room of the dwelling. Here the treasured dolls and their furniture will be displayed for one day only."

"Kabuki is most distinguished when it deals with the weird and grotesque, and the American visitor may not be at all surprised if among the insubstantial stage creations of the Japanese he becomes acquainted with the spirit of a cherry tree, or the transformation of a maid into a fox or a lion."

"The Japanese theatre art differs so widely from anything to be seen in Western countries that it might as well belong to the people of Mars or Saturn, so far removed is it from the ordinary affairs of life as known and experienced in the West. But just because the Eastern hemisphere has founded its theatres on opposite principles from those of Europe, there is all the more reason why this uncharted field of human endeavour should become familiar to our unaccustomed ears and eyes."

"As a people, we Americans love the theatrical art and in order that the theater may be a significant factor in our national life, we have had it said we should produce plays representative of American life. This is obviously true, but is it not true also that a generous sprinkling of Shakespeare would be a fine racial tonic for us?"

"Speaking from the viewpoint of an educator, I might mention that acting in all countries and with all races reflects and expresses to some extent the quality of life. Acting follows the drama by necessity, realistic actors for the realistic drama. And we have here in our country fine acting and good actors in plays written and cast to their type, but as for so-called 'stylized' acting, we have almost none at all. This is largely due to the fact that we are not trained in acting in the classics or in the eighteenth century drama. Perhaps the reason we have not had more Shakespeare revivals is that it is difficult to find actors sufficiently trained and capable."

"I see badly, I hear badly, and I feel bad, but everything's fine."

"I have a rather masculine nature. I'm not afraid of anything."

"Every age has its happiness and troubles."

"I had a hell of a lot of will power! A hell of a will power, you understand? And it was very useful to me."

"I have got only one wrinkle, and I am sitting on it."

"I wait for death... and journalists."

"I took pleasure when I could... I acted clearly and morally and without regret. I'm very lucky."

"I had to wait 110 years to become famous... I intend to enjoy it as long as possible."

"I'm not logical. I'm infected with the romantic fever. It began in my teens when I read Baudelaire in secret, in a country boarding school in England from which I slipped away by climbing over the wall. I was fifteen, the same age as Juliet--a Juliet for whom Romeo had no attraction."

"She makes me doubt my own sex."

"L’herbe de l’été pâlit sous le soleil. La rose, expirant sous les âpres ravages Des chaleurs, languit vers l’ombre, et le sommeil Coule des feuillages."

"Déesse à qui plaît la ruine des roses, Prolonge la nuit !"

"What a disgrace to live at the beginning of the 20th century. … One is always influenced by one's own time. And ours is that of Sarah Bernhardt and Rostand. Things will be much better in another ten years. You will see a new art born, new and beautiful. You will see that, but I shall not. I shall be dead. But … Sarah Bernhardt will live forever, and go on playing L'AIGLON forever!"

"Just once in my life a man tried to embrace me. It was horrible! He had big boots, a heavy belt, huge gloves. Faugh! Oh, let's not talk about men."

"[Charles Brun] was so charming that I always write to him as "My dear Charlotte!""

"Men smell of leather. … The leather of huntsmen, furniture movers, porters."

"I was born under an unlucky star. I love France and I am not French. I am English and I can't like England. My father was Scotch, my mother was born in Honolulu. My father, William Tarn, died at the age of forty in 1890. My real name is Pauline Tarn. I changed it to Renée Vivien."