If I had listened to the critics I’d have died drunk in the gutter.
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.
The sneakiest form of literary subtlety, in a corrupt society, is to speak the plain truth. The critics will not understand you; the public will not believe you; your fellow writers will shake their heads.
It is ridiculous for any man to criticize the works of another if he has not distinguished himself by his own performances.
