This Was a Woman (1948)
Sonia Dresdel: Sylvia Russell
Quotes
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Sylvia Russell : Fenella is not meant for marriage - she's too sensitive, too highly strung, hysterical almost. When she fell in love with you I hoped she'd alter. But if anything, marriage has intensified her abnormality.
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Sylvia Russell : I know if I'd been a man id have wanted authority.
Arthur Russell : Carries a lot of anxieties and responsibilities...
Sylvia Russell : [chuckles] PoorArthur. You're not exactly a swashbuckler, are you dear?
Arthur Russell : No, I suppose Im not.
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Austin Penrose : You know it's grand to find something so unchanged.
Sylvia Russell : But you believe in change. In progress and in success.
Austin Penrose : Clever woman, your wife Arthur. Unmasks me in a sentence.
Arthur Russell : Nothing escapes Sylvia.
Austin Penrose : Yes, I will admit I'm ambitious, Mrs Russell. When I went to New York I said to myself - the sky's the limit.
Sylvia Russell : New York must be very stimulating.
Austin Penrose : Over-stimulating. The city devoted to the creation of needs and wants and desires. A city to goad on the successes and kill off the failures.
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Austin Penrose : Arthur's done very well for himself, if you ask me. Lovely daughter, brilliant son, you. What more can a man want?
Sylvia Russell : Power.
Austin Penrose : Power's an unknown quantity, Mrs. Russell. Like atomic energy, a destroying explosive, or a creative force, at a high joule. No, on balance, I wouldn't say power was a desirable factor in life.
Sylvia Russell : Well, no-one fully realizes the value of a thing if they've never had it.
Austin Penrose : I haven't got power. Authority, yes. A certain amount of authority, but not power.
Sylvia Russell : Authority is power. I envy you that. I'd have enjoyed power.