Quotes

[Upon meeting the then unknown Rudolph Valentino for the first time] How dare you bring that gigolo to my table? How dare you introduce that pimp to Nazimova?

[on movies in a 1916 interview] The pioneer days are now past. This is proved, not in the great mass of moving pictures we see, but the flashes of genius which show what can be done when true artists devote themselves sincerely to creative work. On the speaking stage, there have always been more bad plays than good ones, but no one ever argued from this that the drama was a failure. We must always judge an art by its best examples, not by its worst, not even its second best. At the present, the proportion of fine motion pictures to the total number produced is smaller than the proportion of masterpieces in other art, but if we pause to consider the youth of this field of endeavor, we find our criticisms answered. We must be patient.

[In 1929] I wish I could burn every inch of my films. I'm ashamed of them.