"Sometimes I think that I cheated my own family and my closest friends by giving to audiences so much of the love I might have kept for them. But that’s the way I was made; I truly don't think I could help it"

“Even as a baby I quickly learned to crawl out of my crib. … They'd put up barriers but I learned how to go over them.”

“Photos of Mary Martin, hosted by the Portal to Texas History”

“Never, never, never can I say I had a frustrating childhood. It was all joy. Mother used to say she never had seen such a happy child — that I awakened each morning with a smile. I don’t remember that, but I do remember that I never wanted to go to bed, to go to sleep, for fear I’d miss something.”

“Mother was the disciplinarian, but it was Daddy who could turn me into an angel with just one look.”

“Anything was better than playing cards, and I was doing something I wanted to do — creating.”

“Things can get very lovey and feasty with a bunch of stimulated hams.”