Ellen Terry: The Architect of the Actor's Craft and the Story of My Life

Ellen Terry (1847–1928) was one of the most celebrated actresses of the English-speaking stage. She began as a child performer, rose to fame in the 1860s and 1870s, and from 1878 acted at the Lyceum Theatre in London in a long partnership with Henry Irving. Her Portia, Beatrice, and Ophelia were widely admired, and she toured in Britain and America.

The Story of My Life, published in 1908, is her memoir. It is warm, funny, and frank, and it describes the theatre of her childhood, the demands of the craft, and the friends and colleagues she loved. It belongs to the same Victorian world of art and theatre as the lives of James McNeill Whistler and John Ruskin, and her pages show how closely the stage and the arts were bound together.

This collection contains 17 sentences from the public-domain text on Project Gutenberg. They are arranged by theme and quoted exactly as printed.

17 Quotes from Ellen Terry

Childhood and the Stage

“My whole life was the theater, and naturally all my early memories are connected with it.”

Terry grew up in a family of actors, and from the first page she tells the reader that the stage was her world. The sentence is plain and unaffected, and it explains why her memoir is so full of dressing rooms, rehearsals, and travelling. For her, the theatre was both home and work.

“But it is not given to all of us to see our lives in relief as we look back.”

Terry reflects on the way memory works. Few people, she says, can see the shape of their lives clearly from a distance. The sentence is modest about the memoir itself, since she is offering a personal view, not a finished picture. It gives the book some of its gentle honesty.

“I hold very strongly that a child's earliest impressions mould its character perhaps more than either heredity or education.”

A confident opinion from a woman who began acting as a child. She believes that what the young see and hear shapes them deeply. Whatever one thinks of the claim, it explains why she describes her early years in such detail and why the book lingers over small scenes.

“How few people can describe what they see!”

A short exclamation in the middle of her recollections. Terry knows that observing and describing are separate skills, and she is a little amused at how rarely they go together. The sentence is also a gentle boast, since her own book is full of vivid pictures.

“I have never seen artificial comedy acted as it was acted there.”

She is remembering an old company and its style of playing. The phrase “artificial comedy” refers to the polished comedy of manners. Her praise has the tone of someone who still savours the memory of a performance, and it reminds us how much theatre lives only in the recollection of those who saw it.

The Craft of the Actor

“The parts we play influence our characters to some extent, and Puck made me a bit of a romp.”

Terry recalls playing Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream as a child. The role, she says, made her livelier and more playful. The sentence is lightly comic, and it expresses a real idea, that acting is not only an external skill but also something that touches the person who performs.

“Up to this time I had loved acting because it was great fun, but I had not loved the grind.”

A candid line about growing up as a performer. At first she enjoyed the play of it, and later she had to learn that the art demands steady work. The word “grind” is refreshingly direct, and the sentence is a good answer to anyone who thinks the stage is only glamour.

“I was innocent of all art, and while I loved the actual doing of my part, I hated the labor that led up to it.”

The sentence continues the same thought and carries it further. She admits that she loved performing but disliked the preparation. Few actors say so openly, and the confession makes her account of the later growth of her craft more convincing.

“One must see things for oneself.”

A short, firm rule. An actor, or anyone who wants to learn, cannot rely entirely on other people's descriptions. Terry returns to this idea in several places, and the sentence is easy to remember because it is so simple. It is advice that applies far beyond the theatre.

“Stage fright is like nothing else in the world.”

Terry tells her readers that no other feeling is quite the same. The sentence is brief and does not try to explain the fear, only to say that it is unique. Many performers will recognise it at once, and its honesty is typical of the book.

“Such fortitude is commoner in our profession, I think, than in any other.”

She praises the courage of actors who keep working through illness, grief, and failure. The comment shows her loyalty to her profession and her admiration for colleagues who carried on when it would have been easier to stop. She means it as a compliment to a whole company of people.

Comedy, Tragedy, and Truth

“The tragedian will always be a limited tragedian if he has not learned how to laugh.”

One of her best-known observations. A performer who can only weep, she says, will never reach the full depth of tragedy, because grief gains power by contrast with joy. The sentence also suggests that range is a matter of life as well as technique.

“The comedian who cannot weep will never touch the highest levels of mirth.”

The companion to the previous sentence. Comedy at its best has a trace of sadness, she says, and a clown without feeling remains shallow. Together the two sentences give a compact philosophy of acting in which tragic and comic skills support each other.

“Vanity often succeeds where remonstrance fails.”

A humorous remark about human nature. People will do for their pride what they will not do because they are told. The sentence appears in the course of a story, and it has the tone of a seasoned observer of backstage life.

“Not until we have learned to be useful can we afford to do what we like.”

A piece of practical wisdom. Terry says that freedom in work comes after competence, not before. The sentence sounds like advice to a young actor, and it is relevant to students of any art who would prefer to start with self-expression.

“Envy, after all, is the death of love!”

Terry offers a short moral lesson on jealousy. The exclamation gives it warmth, as if she were speaking to a friend. It reminds the reader that a theatre company is a community of strong feelings, and that kindness among performers is not easy to keep.

“It is only the whole truth which is informing and fair in the long run, and the whole truth is never known.”

The most serious of her reflections here. She admits that every account, including her own, is partial. The sentence is a thoughtful remark for a memoirist to make, and it gives the book a tone of humility that readers often find disarming.

Conclusion

Ellen Terry writes about the stage with warmth, humour, and a refusal to pretend. She admits her dislike of the grind, her fear, and the limits of memory, and she gives clear advice on comedy and tragedy. Her pages show that even a great actress learned her craft by working, watching, and making mistakes.

Terry died in 1928. The memoir remains one of the most readable accounts of the Victorian theatre, and her sentences on acting are still quoted by performers. These seventeen lines are a small selection from a book that rewards reading from beginning to end.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Ellen Terry?

Ellen Terry (1847–1928) was an English actress, famous for her Shakespeare roles and for her long partnership with Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre in London.

What is The Story of My Life?

It is Terry's memoir, published in 1908. It covers her childhood in the theatre, her career, and her reflections on acting.

What did Terry think about comedy and tragedy?

She believed that the two support each other. A tragic actor must be able to laugh, and a comic actor must be able to weep, in order to reach the highest level.

Which text is quoted here?

The quotations come from The Story of My Life in the public-domain edition on Project Gutenberg. They are given as printed, including the American spelling in the edition.

Recommended Similar Collections on Quotyzen

• James McNeill Whistler: The Architect of Aesthetic Harmony and Artistic Independence
• John Ruskin: The Architect of Truth in Art and the Honest Building
• William Morris: The Architect of the Arts and Crafts Movement and Honest Labour

Can a great actor be both comic and tragic? Share your view in the comments below!