- We were pioneers in a brand-new medium. Everything's fun when you're young.
- I'm sick of Cinderella parts, of wearing rags and tatters. I want to wear smart clothes and play the lover.
- We maniacs had fun and made good pictures and a lot of money. In the early years, United Artists was a private golf club for the four of us.
- If you have made mistakes... and there is always another chance for you... you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call "failure" is not the falling down but the staying down.
- I never liked one of my pictures in its entirety.
- [at her retirement] I'm not exactly satisfied, but I'm grateful.
- Make them laugh, make them cry, and back to laughter. What do people want to go to the theatre for? An emotional exercise... I am a servant of the people. I have never forgotten that.
- Adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo.
- [on Douglas Fairbanks] A little boy who never grew up.
- [on Charles Chaplin] That obstinate, suspicious, egocentric, maddening and lovable genius of a problem child.
- [on Douglas Fairbanks] In his private life Douglas always faced a situation in the only way he knew, by running away from it.
- [on Ernst Lubitsch] I parted company with him as soon as I could. I thought him a very uninspired director. He was a director of doors.
- [on success] This thing that we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down.
- I will not allow one picture to be shown: Rosita (1923). Oh, I detested that picture! I disliked the director, Ernst Lubitsch, as much as he disliked me. We didn't show it, of course, but it was a very unhappy and very costly experience.
- [In her old age] I saw Hollywood born and I've seen it die...
- I left the screen because I didn't want what happened to Chaplin [Charles Chaplin] to happen to me. The little girl made me. I wasn't waiting for the little girl to kill me. I'd already been pigeonholed. I know I'm an artist, and that's not being arrogant, because talent comes from God. My career was planned, there was never anything accidental about it. It was planned, it was painful, it was purposeful. I'm not exactly satisfied, but I'm grateful.
- [upon initially hearing her recorded voice on film in Coquette (1929)] That's not me. That's a pip squeak voice. It's impossible. I sound like I'm 12 or 13.
- [on Charles Chaplin] I think he descended, I think he should never have played Hitler for instance. He could've gone on until he was 90 years old playing the little tramp. He personified everything that is miserable, all over the world, he was a poor little human being, but had the philosophy to overcome all of the other things that attacked him. And then when he became Hitler and a murderer and Monsieur Verdoux, Limelight I was sad about, I didn't want to see Charlie as an old man.
- [appearing under the title "Spooning" in 'Daily Talks with Mary Pickford' May 8, 1916] I am not going to put on a pair of old grandmother spectacles, draw my eyebrows together and 'shush!' the happy young engaged couples who seek the cozy corners of the moonlight garden walks to exchange their lovers litany - no indeed, because that is the sweetest and most beautiful time of a young girl's life. But this I do see is dreadful: unengaged couples spooning promiscuously. Is there anything more jarring upon one than seeing a foolish young girl, not out of her teens, allowing a boy to make love to her? And, as is nearly always the case, the silly girl who tolerates promiscuous familiarities has much to regret when the one man comes along for whom she has been waiting for many years.
- The time is coming when the screen will be controlled by a big-business combine. When that time comes, I shall retire. Neither Douglas [Douglas Fairbanks] nor I will ever again take dictation from businessmen who sit in their mahogany offices back East, with their big cigars, seeking to control a business which they do not understand. The public demands artists, but these men do not understand the temperament of artists.
- [on A Good Little Devil (1914)] One of the worst [features] I ever made...it was deadly.
- I was forced to live far beyond my years when just a child; now, I have reversed the order and I intend to remain young indefinitely.
- It would have been more logical if silent pictures had grown out of the talkies instead of the other way around.
- [on her 20-month success at Biograph Pictures] I played scrubwomen and secretaries and women of all nationalities. I decided that if I could get into as many pictures as possible, I'd become known, and there would be a demand for my work.
- One of the great penalties those of us who live our lives in full view of the public must pay is the loss of that most cherished birthright of man's: privacy.
- Make them laugh, make them cry, and hack to laughter. What do people go to the theatre for? An emotional exercise. I am a servant of the people. I have never forgotten that.
- After Theda Bara appeared in A Fool There Was (1915), a vampire wave surged over the country. Women appeared in vampire gowns, pendant earrings, and even young girls were attempting to change from frank, open-eyed ingenues to the almond-eyed, carmine-lipped woman of subtlety and mystery.
- [1924] The Birth of a Nation (1915) was the first picture that really made people take the motion picture industry seriously. Even today it stands as the finest example of dramatic accumulation on the screen.
- [1924] Robin Hood (1922) combines a fine story with a big spectacle and builds consistently to a climax without dropping interest for a moment. It has beautiful costumes, good photography, marvelous settings, is convincingly acted, and adds to the dignity of the screen.
- [1924] Tol'able David (1921) retains the same quality the [Joseph Hergesheimer] pen conveyed and is notable for the sustained drama of the plot. When I first saw this picture I felt I was not looking at a photoplay but was really witnessing the tragedy of a family I had known all my life.
- [1924] A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923) allows us to think for ourselves and does not constantly underestimate our intelligence. It is a gripping human story throughout and the director [Charles Chaplin] allows the situations to play themselves. The actors simply react the emotions of the audience.
- [1924] Seventeen (1916) is perhaps the best example of [Booth Tarkington's] angle on life - the typical wholesome American humor, fresh and charming.
- [1924] Deception (1920) is an example of superb direction and splendid acting, especially that of Emil Jannings. It was the first time on the screen that a King had been made human. It has subtle, satirical humor.
- [1924] Over the Hill to the Poorhouse (1920). This story is so simple and human that even the people of far away China could sympathize with the situations. It deals with a world-wide problem - what to do with the old. The human touches are delightful.
- [1924] Smilin' Through (1922) is notable because of Norma Talmadge's beauty and appealing performance, the wonderful sets and photography and the entertaining story. It deals with a subject which interests most women - that of spiritualism - which is so delicately and beautifully handled that it could offend no one.
- [1924] The Kid (1921) is one of the finest examples of screen language, depending upon its action rather than upon subtitles. It is notable on account of the great generosity of [Charles Chaplin] in sharing honors with [Jackie Coogan] and because of its direct simplicity, depending solely upon its treatment.
- [1924] Blood and Sand (1922) is notable on account of [Rudolph Valentino's] performance. In my judgment it is the best thing that he has done and one of [Fred Niblo's] finest pictures. It is one of the few pictures I have been able to sit through twice and enjoy the second time more than the first.
- [1924] I am not vain. I do not care about giving a smashing personal performance. My one ambition is to create fine entertainment.
- [1924] The important thing in pictures is not the story but the treatment. Setting, acting, story may all be splendid but it's the treatment that lifts a picture out of mediocrity. The ideal working combination is a fine director with a fine scenario writer.
- [1924] If I ever retire from the screen I will become a producer - unless I am forced into retirement by the combine.
- [1924, to an interviewer] I have only three hundred billboards for the New York showings of Rosita (1923). Do you think that is enough? I wanted five hundred. I think billboards are very important in the advertising campaign.
- [1924] I am no longer in pictures for money. I am in them because I love them.
- [1924] I do not cry easily when seeing a picture, but after seeing [Charles Chaplin's] A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923) I was all choked up - I wanted to go out in the garden and have it out by myself. Our cook felt the same way.
- [1924, on Charles Chaplin] How he knows women - oh, how he knows women!
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