Critic - Criticism Quotes

You know who critics are? – the men who have failed in literature and art.

To be a good critic demands more brains and judgment than most men possess.

Let dull critics feed upon the carcasses of plays; give me the taste and the dressing.

The most noble criticism is that in which the critic is not the antagonist so much as the rival of the author.

The legitimate aim of criticism is to direct praise to the excellent. The bad will dig its own grave, and the imperfect may safely be left to that final neglect from which no amount of present undeserved popularity can rescue it.

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.

Criticism, as it was first instituted by Aristotle, was meant as a standard of judging well; the chiefest part of which is to observe those excellencies which delight a reasonable reader.

Critics are like eunuchs in a harem. They’re there every night, they see it done every night, they see how it should be done every night, but they can’t do it themselves.

I criticize by creation, not by finding fault.

Critics hang around and wait for others to make mistakes. But the real doers of the world have no time for criticizing others. They’re too busy doing, making mistakes, improving, making progress.