Criticism Quotes - Page 39

• A cruel critic has never made anything; his glibness is a way of inflicting his emptiness on others.

  John Lahr

  Way, Emptiness, Made

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

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• It is time to return to close reading, to a serious and painstaking examination of an author's methods, of his style. Do not be deterred by headaches. First of all, this would be proof of your lack of stamina. And then, migraines, piercing pain and sudden stabs at the temples are more likely the effects of syphilis than of hard work.

  Louis Aragon

  Pain, Reading, Hard Work

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• I must confess that I and a few others are burdened with heavy responsibilities regarding the future of criticism. I am certainly, if not the inventor, then at least one of the first systematizers of an absurd critical practice that, as soon as it had peeked its beak out of the nest, flapping its new wet wings, took flight in the minds of the young, becoming a wild ox and sowing avant-garde literature with the mighty tomes of what might as well be called the abstract bear.

  Louis Aragon

  Responsibility, Practice, Wings

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• On the left is the realist tradition of the 19th century, with its impulse to social description, radical criticism and meditation on things as they are... culminating in Courbet at his mightiest (The Studio, The Funeral at Ornans and a portrait of a trout that has more death in it than Rubens could get in a whole Crucifixion).

  Gustave Courbet

  Funeral, Meditation, Portraits

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• Conceit is an insuperable obstacle to all progress. On the other hand, it is of little use to take criticism in a slavish spirit and to act on it without understanding it.

  Ellen Terry

  Hands, Understanding, Progress

  Dame Ellen Terry (1908). “The Story of My Life: Recollections and Reflections”

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• Many people value criticism in the early stage of a relationship, but become allergic to it over time. Remember this: No one can survive in a marriage (at least not happily) if they feel more judged than admired. Your partner won't make use of your constructive criticism if there's not a surrounding climate of admiration and respect.

  Harriet Lerner

  People, Use, Climate

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• Criticism should be done by critics, and a critic should have some training and some love of the medium he is discussing. But these days, gossip-columnist training seems to be enough qualification. I suppose an ability to stand on your feet through interminable cocktail parties and swig interminable gins in between devouring masses of fried prawns may just possibly help you to understand and appreciate what a director is getting at, but for the life of me I can't see how.

  Peter Sellers

  Party, Should Have, Feet

  "Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers". Book by Ed Sikov, p. 168, 1999.

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• I hate orthodox criticism. I don't mean great criticism, like that of Matthew Arnold and others, but the usual small niggling, fussy-mussy criticism, which thinks it can improve people by telling them where they are wrong, and results only in putting them in straitjackets of hesitancy and self-consciousness, and weazening all vision and bravery.

  Brenda Ueland

  Hate, Mean, Thinking

  Brenda Ueland (2013). “If You Want to Write”, p.7, Simon and Schuster

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• The philosopher will ask himself ... if the criticism we are now suggesting is not the philosophy which presses to the limit that criticism of false gods which Christianity has introduced into our history.

  Maurice Merleau-Ponty

  Philosophy, Limits, Philosopher

  Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1988). “In Praise of Philosophy and Other Essays”, p.47, Northwestern University Press

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• It is not just that it is profoundly offensive to the leaders and people of a democratic Germany to paint Hitler on the wall (or on the remnants of the Wall). It is also consummately counterproductive. Such sauce does not make the meat of substantive criticism more interesting. It means that the whole dish is pushed away. It does not mean that Britain's voice is listened to more attentively in the councils of Europe. It means that it is listened to even less.

  Timothy Garton Ash

  Wall, Mean, Europe

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• In a democratic age, only the behavior of the authorities is subject to public criticism; that of the people themselves, never.

  Anthony Daniels

  People, Age, Behavior

  "Who Killed Childhood?". www.city-journal.org. Spring 2004.

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• It is in the nature of science that once a position becomes orthodox it should be suggested to criticism.... It does not follow that, because a position is orthodox, it is wrong.

  John Maynard Smith

  Doe, Should, Orthodox

  Quarterly Review of Biology Journal, 51, p. 277-283, 1976.

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• I've got a lot to prove because of the criticism over my weight and moving back down a division.

  Ricky Hatton

  Moving, Division, Weight

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• I never did know exactly what was meant by the term "The Beats," but let's say that the original meeting, association, comradeship of Allen Ginsberg, myself, Michael McClure, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Philip Whalen, who's not here, Lew Welch, who's dead, Gregory Corso, for me, to a somewhat lesser extent (I never knew Gregory as well as the others) did embody a criticism and a vision which we shared in various ways, and then went our own ways for many years.

  Gary Snyder

  Years, Vision, Association

  "The Beat Vision". Book by Arthur Knight, 1986.

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• The net has provided a level playing field for criticism and comment - anyone and everyone is entitled to their opinion - and that is one of its greatest strengths.

  Sara Sheridan

  Level Playing Field, Levels, Fields

  "Why Writers Must Embrace Social Media, No Matter the Genre". www.theguardian.com. April 14, 2011.

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• There is no virtue in being uncritical; nor is it a habit to which the young are given. But criticism is only the burying beetle that gets rid of what is dead, and, since the world lives by creative and constructive forces, and not by negation and destruction, it is better to grow up in the company of prophets than of critics.

  Richard Livingstone

  Education, Growing Up, Creative

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• Do not make the mistake of holding your idea close to your chest… Submit it to the criticism of the judicious.

  James Webb Young

  Mistake, Ideas, Submit

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• I don't think of myself as a critic or teacher either, but simply - and at the obvious risk of disingenuousness - as someone who teaches, writes drama criticism (and other things) and feels that the American compulsion to take your identity from your profession, with its corollary of only one trade to a practitioner, may be a convenience to society but is burdensome and constricting to yourself.

  Richard Gilman

  Teacher, Drama, Writing

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• Nasr combines in his writing audacious intellectual criticism, deep understanding of Islam... and a commitment to the Western-European contributions to the emancipation of the human condition.

  Mohammed Arkoun

  Writing, Commitment, Deep Understanding

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• I am the object of criticism around the world. But I think that since I am being discussed, then I am on the right track.

  Kim Jong Il

  Thinking, Track, Leader

  "A Telling North Korean Journey" by James Brooke, www.nytimes.com. December 03, 2002.

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• Friendships are different from all other relationships. Unlike acquaintanceship, friendship is based on love. Unlike lovers and married couples, it is free of jealousy. Unlike children and parents, it knows neither criticism nor resentment. Friendship has no status in law. Business partnerships are based on a contract. So is marriage. Parents are bound by law. But friendships are freely entered into, freely given, and freely exercised.

  Stephen Ambrose

  Friendship, Children, Couple

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• The immoral profession of musical criticism must be abolished.

  Richard Wagner

  Music, Immoral, Profession

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• Composing for the prepared piano is not a criticism of the instrument. I'm only being practical.

  John Cage

  Music, Piano, Instruments

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• Never let too much criticism or too much praise get in your way.

  Leonard Wolf

  Too Much, Way, Praise

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• Criticism changes with the fashion of the time. A story is always a story.

  V. S. Pritchett

  Fashion, Stories

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