The Only Woman in the Room Quotes

“could never really leave the first history behind. My past life would seep into my new world like water through cracks in a dam that had never been properly shored—until I faced my original history square on.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“But I had stared the leaders of our enemies in the eyes and turned my ear to their voices, and I knew the terror they meant to wreak upon our world.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“As I said before, I settle for only what I think I’m worth. And if I do not ask, you will not give.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“Rulers and movements may rise and fall, but the power of money always prevails,” Fritz said. While ostensibly a summary of some facet of Napoleonic history, it seemed a fitting statement of Fritz’s own political beliefs. Power, it seemed, was an end unto itself for Fritz.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“I was like an antenna seeking out sounds no one else could hear. Silent harbingers of doom.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“Even though I’d lamented the sacrifice of acting, I’d begun to see the exchange of my career for the security and safety Fritz could offer as a necessary trade.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“And my family, well, we really didn’t consider ourselves Jewish, except in a vague, cultural sense. We were fully assimilated into the vibrant cultural life of the capital city. We were Viennese above all else.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“Take This Woman.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“When we look at our cell phones - as almost everyone does countless times a day - we stare directly into the face of a scientific invention made, in part, upon Hedy Lamarr's invention.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“Well, America has made immigration quite the bewildering process. On purpose. The government uses the hoops of its onerous application as a deterrent.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“But unless we begin to view historical women through a broader, more inclusive lens—and rewrite them back into the narrative—we will continue to view the past more restrictively than it likely was, and we risk carrying those perspectives over into the present.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“So when we look at our cell phones—as almost everyone does countless times every day—we stare directly into the face of a scientific invention made, in part, upon Hedy Lamarr’s invention. It is a tangible reminder of her life, beyond the films for which she is more famous. And who knows whether the cell phone as we know it today would have been constructed without her work?”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“But it seems to me that Hedy, her history, and her creation may have even greater symbolic importance. The manner in which her contribution to this world-changing device was largely lost—or ignored—for decades reflects the pervasive marginalization of women’s contributions, a problem that is both historical and modern. Whether Hedy’s work in spread-spectrum technology was purposefully disregarded or unconsciously forgotten, it appears that imbedded in that oversight were misconceptions about her abilities—about all women, really. Faulty assumptions about women’s capabilities, stemming in part from the conscripted roles into which they’d been slotted, has caused many to think more narrowly about the manner in which the past has been shaped. But unless we begin to view historical women through a broader, more inclusive lens—and rewrite them back into the narrative—we will continue to view the past more restrictively than it likely was, and we risk carrying those perspectives over into the present. Perhaps if Hedy’s society had viewed her not simply as a blindingly beautiful creature, but as a human being with a sharp mind capable of significant contributions, they might have learned that her interior life was more interesting and fruitful than her exterior. Her invention might have been accepted by the navy when she offered it, and who knows what impact that might have had on the war? If only people had been willing to look behind “the only woman in the room” to examine the person she was beneath, they might have seen a woman capable of greatness, and not only on the screen.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“I’d kept the dark, terrible secret closed within, more fearful of what sharing the truth might divulge about me than what help disclosure might bring the victims of Hitler’s rage.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“The trick of these papers is that they all have expiration dates, so you’ve got to obtain them and get off that waiting list to submit them before they expire. Or you’ve got to do it all over again. The timing of this paperwork is so complicated—nearly impossible—that they call it the ‘paper wall.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“Well, America has made immigration quite the bewildering process. On purpose. The government uses the hoops of its onerous application as a deterrent.” “Why?” “So as few immigrants as possible can enter the country, of course,” he went on, oblivious to the dreadful nature of his statement. “Here’s the gist of it. The applicant first registers with the American consulate and gets on the waiting list for an American visa. While they’re biding their time, they have to collect a long list of documents to submit, things like identity papers, police certificates, exit and transit permissions, and a financial affidavit, because the applicant has to prove that they can support themselves.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“understandable.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“The Social Democrats and the Christian Social Party have been at each other’s throats for years. It was only a matter of time before the Heimwehr and Schutzbund turned that verbal warfare into actual bloodshed.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“never mind the pass he’d made only a week earlier. Or that in the time”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“Acting had been a ward against childhood loneliness, a way to fill my quiet existence with people beyond the ever-present nanny and tutor but the ever-absent Mama and Papa. It started as the simple creation of characters and stories for my many dolls on an impromptu stage created under the huge desk in Papa’s study, but then, unexpectedly, role-playing became much, much more. When I went to school—and suddenly became introduced to a wide, dizzying array of people—acting became my way of moving through the world, a sort of currency upon which I could draw whenever I needed. I could become whatever those around me secretly longed for, and I, in turn, got whatever I wanted from them. It wasn’t until I stepped on my first stage, however, that I comprehended the breadth of my gift. I could bury myself and assume the mask of an entirely different person, one crafted by a director or a writer. I could turn my gaze on the audience and wield my capacity to influence them.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“to”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“Le Ballet mécanique?”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“many”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“they”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“Acting had been a ward against childhood loneliness, a way to fill my quiet existence with people beyond the ever-present nanny and tutor but the ever-absent Mama and Papa. It started as the simple creation of characters and stories for my many dolls on an impromptu stage created under the huge desk in Papa’s study, but then, unexpectedly, role-playing became much, much more. When I went to school—and suddenly became introduced to a wide, dizzying array of people—acting became my way of moving through the world, a sort of currency upon which I could draw whenever I needed. I could become whatever those around me secretly longed for, and I, in turn, got whatever I wanted from them.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“Never mind that my own connection to my family’s religion was tenuous; it was a momentous surrender.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“the real one upsetting. He began leaving for the”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“the military classified Patent 2,292,387 as top secret and, in the 1950s, gave it to a contractor for the construction of a sonobuoy that could detect submarines in the water and then transmit that information to an airplane above using Hedy’s unjammable frequency-hopping idea. Later, the military and other private entities began to make their own inventions using this interpretation of spread-spectrum technology—without any recompense to Hedy, as the patent had expired—and today, aspects of her frequency-hopping idea can be found in the wireless devices we use every day. Hedy’s role in these advancements was unknown until the 1990s, when she received a few awards for her invention, recognition she considered more important than the success of her movies.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“fashioned her frequency-hopping invention, in which radio signals transmitting from a ship or airplane to its torpedo would constantly change frequencies, making those signals impenetrable and improving the torpedoes’ accuracy. This was Hedy’s take on spread-spectrum technology.”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room

“Honorary Aryan,”
― Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room