Criticism Quotes - Page 31

• 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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• When you overpay small people you frighten them. They know that their merits or activities entitle them to no such sums as they are receiving. As a result their boss soars out of economic into magic significance.

  Ben Hecht

  Money, Blessing, People

  "A child of the century".

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• Why would a lazy guy become a parent of five? Then again, why would creative people who inherently don't like change and criticism become writers, actors, or comedians? There's something about this process. I joke about it: My kids have made me a better person, and I only need, like, 34 more of them to be a really good guy.

  Jim Gaffigan

  Kids, People, Creative

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• A good critic is the sorcerer who makes some hidden spring gush forth unexpectedly under our feet.

  Francois Mauriac

  Spring, Feet, Critics

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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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• Men are ready to suffer anything from others or from heaven itself, provided that, when it comes to words, they are untouched.

  Giacomo Leopardi

  Men, Heaven, Suffering

  Giacomo Leopardi (1987). “Leopardi: Poems and Prose”, Praeger Pub Text

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• The critic who justly admires all kinds of things simultaneously cannot love any one of them.

  Max Beerbohm

  Kind, Admire, Critics

  Sir Max Beerbohm (1958). “Mainly on the Air”

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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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• 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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• A critic is a lug-worm in the liver of literature.

  Lawrence Durrell

  Literature, Worms, Critics

  Lawrence Durrell (2015). “The Avignon Quintet: Monsieur, Livia, Constance, Sebastian and Quinx”, p.193, Faber & Faber

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• Perhaps it would be better for science, that all criticism should be avowed.

  Charles Babbage

  Would Be, Should

  Charles Babbage (1830). “Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on Some of Its Causes”, p.9

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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 am not too serious about anything. I believe you have to enjoy yourself to get the most out of your ability. I can take the criticism with the accolades. Neither affects me.

  George Brett

  Believe, Serious, Enjoy

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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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• 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 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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