This Was a Woman (1948)

Sonia Dresdel: Sylvia Russell

Quotes 

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.