I turned 30 as a janitor. I was thinking at the time that Hank Williams died when he was 29. All my peers were at least 10 years younger than I was. I felt like an old has-been at the time.

Kris Kristofferson

Having been built in the fashion I was as a child - created and then deflated - has left me with a distinct feeling of failure. Because I did not live up to my precocity, I experience it to be like a cross between a has-been and a never-was.

Alissa Quart

I am not interested in releasing best of stuff and I have not given my permission. You release best of packages when you're a has-been and have nothing new to offer.

Amanda Lear

There's a stigma about reality shows and the people who star in them. Reality shows mean your career will end, your marriage will be cursed, you have to fight and/or throw a drink, or you're going to end up broke and a has-been when the series ends.

Angela Yee

I used to dread going on 'Politically Incorrect' with 'up and coming' comedians. But at least on 'Politically Incorrect', there would be just one has-been or wannabe on the panel.

Ann Coulter

Which is worse - being a has-been or being the guy interviewing a has-been?

Bobcat Goldthwait

Let's face it, I'm a has-been.

Bruno Sammartino

It is better to be a has-been than a never-was.

C. Northcote Parkinson

The fear of becoming a 'has-been' keeps some people from becoming anything.

Eric Hoffer

When you succeed, at a certain point, you want to challenge yourself. Otherwise, you become boring. You become a has-been. It's not very interesting. I don't want to be this guy who has only succeeded in France.

Gad Elmaleh

When you succeed, at a certain point, you want to challenge yourself. Otherwise, you become boring. You become a has-been. It's not very interesting. I don't want to be this guy who has only succeeded in France. I could say, 'O.K., that's it; merci.' But I'm not interested in that.

Gad Elmaleh

Once you've published a few books, you drag around this ball and chain of a back list. All the evidence of how few you've sold is there. I think a lot of writers my age have this strange experience of going from would-be to has-been.

Geoff Dyer

I can only say the first thing that pops into my mind is I remember, years ago, seeing kind of a has-been country singer working - when I first moved to Nashville - in a bar in a Holiday Inn.

Jimmy Buffett

I was so successful in Cleveland, and we moved to Los Angeles, and there was nothing for me to do. All of a sudden, from being a success, I was a has-been at 13.

Joel Grey

I'd retired for about six or seven years. Coming back to the business, I found that I was sort of not quite a has-been, and it wasn't a new career, it was just kind of difficult to crack the nut, so to speak.

Julie London

I turned 30 as a janitor. I was thinking at the time that Hank Williams died when he was 29. All my peers were at least 10 years younger than I was. I felt like an old has-been at the time.

Kris Kristofferson

I am not a has-been. I am a will be.

Lauren Bacall

It is never ok for politicians to abuse their power for self enrichment, and even for has-beens and also-rans there has to be some brand of justice so present and future presidents don't get lured into taking crafty, well disguised bribes pretending it's 'charity.'

Lisa Kennedy Montgomery

I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has was once an are.

Milton Berle

Sometimes I feel like a has-been who never was.

Sandra Dee

It's a terrifying thing to be perhaps 16 or 17 and feel like you are a failure and a has-been.

Shelley Fabares