Criticism Quotes - Page 27

• When a man says he sees nothing in a book, he very often means that he does not see himself in it: which, if it is not a comedy or a satire, is likely enough.

  Augustus William Hare

  Book, Mean, Men

  Augustus William Hare (1827). “Guesses at Truth”, p.271

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• To arrange a library is to practice in a quiet and modest way the art of criticism.

  Jorge Luis Borges

  Inspirational, Art, Practice

  Jorge Luis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares (1973). “Extraordinary tales”, International Specialized Book Services

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• It is folly to censure him whom all the world adores.

  Publilius Syrus

  World, Adore, Folly

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• If the men of wit and genius would resolve never to complain in their works of critics and detractors, the next age would not know that they ever had any.

  Jonathan Swift

  Men, Age, Complaining

  Jonathan Swift (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Jonathan Swift (Illustrated)”, p.899, Delphi Classics

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• Every nation, every race, has not only its own creative, but its own critical turn of mind; and is even more oblivious of the shortcomings and limitations of its critical habits than of those of its creative genius.

  T. S. Eliot

  Race, Creative, Mind

  T.S. Eliot (2010). “The Waste Land and Other Poems”, p.84, Broadview Press

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• Tomes of aesthetic criticism hang on a few moments of real delight and intuition.

  George Santayana

  Real, Intuition, Delight

  George Santayana (2009). “The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress”, p.1058, The Floating Press

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• With an artist no sane man quarrels, any more than with the colour of a child's eyes.

  George Santayana

  Children, Eye, Artist

  George Santayana, Martin A. Coleman (2009). “The Essential Santayana: Selected Writings”, p.312, Indiana University Press

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• Works of art are of an infinite loneliness and with nothing so little to be reached as with criticism.

  Rainer Maria Rilke

  Art, Loneliness, Littles

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• He who first praises a book becomingly is next in merit to the author.

  Walter Savage Landor

  Book, Next, Firsts

  Walter Savage Landor (1824). “Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen”

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• Philosophical theories or ideas, as points of view, instruments of criticism, may help us to gather up what might otherwise pass unregarded by us.

  Walter Pater

  Philosophy, Philosophical, Views

  Walter Pater (2013). “The Renaissance”, p.125, Simon and Schuster

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• It is my conviction that the public always shows itself more honest in its spontaneity than do those who officially set themselves up as judges of works of art.

  Igor Stravinsky

  Art, Judging, Honest

  Igor Stravinsky (1970). “Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons”, p.87, Harvard University Press

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• In a culture whose already classical dilemma is the hypertrophy of the intellect at the expense of energy and sensual capability, interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.

  Susan Sontag

  Art, Revenge, Sensual

  Susan Sontag (2014). “A Susan Sontag Reader”, p.149, Macmillan

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• Interpretation, based on the highly dubious theory that a work of art is composed of items of content, violates art. It makes art into an article for use, for arrangement into a mental scheme of categories.

  Susan Sontag

  Art, Dubious, Use

  Susan Sontag (1983). “A Susan Sontag reader”, Vintage

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• I was the first critic ever to win a Tony - for co-authoring 'Elaine Stritch at Liberty.' Criticism is a life without risk; the critic is risking his opinion, the maker is risking his life. It's a humbling thought but important for the critic to keep it in mind - a thought he can only know if he's made something himself.

  John Lahr

  Winning, Risk, Mind

  "Questions for John Lahr". www.newyorker.com. January 23, 2009.

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• I like to not care that much about criticism, but I do care about it.

  Jack Nicholson

  Care, I Do Care

  "Jack Nicholson: 'I have a sweet spot for what's attractive to me'". Interview with Dana Kennedy, www.theguardian.com. October 3, 2002.

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• Self-criticism is an art not many are qualified to practice.

  Joyce Carol Oates

  Art, Self, Practice

  Joyce Carol Oates (1989). “(Woman) writer: occasions and opportunities”, Plume

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• Art is a criticism of society and life, and I believe that if life became perfect, art would be meaningless and cease to exist.

  Naguib Mahfouz

  Art, Believe, Perfect

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• To the reactionary ear every whispered criticism of the elite classes has always sounded like the opening shot of an uprising.

  Richard Hofstadter

  Class, Uprising, Ears

  RICHARD HOFSTADTER (1962). “The American Political Tradition And the Men Who Made It”

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• One of life's fundamental truths states, "Ask and you shall receive." As kids we get used to asking for things, but somehow we lose this ability in adulthood. We come up with all sorts of excuses and reasons to avoid any possibility of criticism or rejection.

  Jack Canfield

  Inspirational, Kids, Rejection

  "'How Am I Doing?' The One Question That Can Change All Of Your Relationships" by Jack Canfield, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 8, 2009.

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• Since separation precludes financial support or special privilege from government, the churches are free to engage in prophetic criticism of the government and to work for social justice.

  John M Swomley

  Government, Justice, Support

  John M. Swomley (1987). “Religious liberty and the secular state: the constitutional context”

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• An author places himself uncalled before the tribunal of criticism and solicits fame at the hazard of disgrace.

  Samuel Johnson

  Writing, Hazards, Fame

  Samuel Johnson (1810). “The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper: Broome, Pope, Pitt, Thomson”, p.114

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• Euphemisms are not, as many young people think, useless verbiage for that which can and should be said bluntly; they are like secret agents on a delicate mission, they must airily pass by a stinking mess with barely so much as a nod of the head, make their point of constructive criticism and continue on in calm forbearance. Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.

  Quentin Crisp

  Thinking, People, Secret

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• The only players I hurt with my words are the ones who have an inflated opinion of their ability.

  Bill Parcells

  Hurt, Player, Opinion

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• People who are criticizing... don't really get it, because if they did, they would like it.

  Gwyneth Paltrow

  People, Criticize, Critics

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• At bottom, textual criticism for virtually all other ancient literature relies on creative conjectures, or imaginative guesses, at reconstructing the wording of the original. Not so with the New Testament.

  Daniel B. Wallace

  Ancient Literature, Creative, Conjecture

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