never-was-er

Updated: May 6, 2025

Tree between his two 'stars'!" "You mean Ancient Lights!" answered the witty actress to whom the remark was made. However, "e'en in our ashes burn our wonted fires," or, to descend from the sublime to the ridiculous, and from the poetry of Gray to the pantomime gag of Drury Lane and Herbert Campbell, "Better to be a good old has-been than a never-was-er!"

Ellen Terry - The Story of My Life: Recollections and Reflections