Ellen Terry Quotes

#1. Not until we have learned to be useful can we afford to do what we like.

Ellen Terry

#2. Vary the pace ... is one of the foundations of all good acting.

Ellen Terry

#3. Conceit is an insuperable obstacle to all progress.

Ellen Terry

#4. Eulogy is nice, but one does not learn anything from it.

Ellen Terry

#5. No amount of skill on the part of the actress can make up for the loss of youth.

Ellen Terry

#6. The tragedian will always be a limited tragedian if he has not learned how to laugh. The comedian who cannot weep will never touch the highest levels of mirth.

Ellen Terry

#7. If it is the mark of the artist to love art before everything, to renounce everything for its sake, to think all the sweet human things of life well lost if only he may attain something, do some good, great work - then I was never an artist.

Ellen Terry

#8. Imagination! Imagination! I put it first years ago, when I was asked what qualities I thought necessary for success on the stage.

Ellen Terry

#9. Before you can be eccentric, you must know where the circle is ...

Ellen Terry

#10. Usefulness! It is not a fascinating word, and the quality is not one of which the aspiring spirit can dream o' nights, yet on the stage it is the first thing to aim at.

Ellen Terry

#11. Only a great actor finds the difficulties of the actor's art infinite.

Ellen Terry

#12. The picture of me is nearly finished, and I think it is magnificent. The green and blue of the dress is splendid, and the expression as Lady Macbeth holds the crown over her head is quite wonderful.

Ellen Terry

#13. Coroners' inquests by learned societies can't make Shakespeare a dead man.

Ellen Terry