Criticism Quotes

Criticism is the endeavour to find, to know, to love, to recommend, not only the best, but all the good, that has been known and thought and written in the world.

George Saintsbury (1845-1933) English literary critic.

Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world, thought the cant of hypocrites may be the worst, the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!

Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) English author.

It is the nature of the artist to mind excessively what is said about him. Literature is strewn with the  wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) British novelist.

A blind man will not thank you for a looking glass.

18^th century English Proverb.

You should not say it is not good. You should say you do not like it; and then, you know, you are perfectly safe.

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) American artist.

On an occasion of this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one’s mind. It becomes a pleasure.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) American author.

Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your friend’s forehead.

Chinese Proverb.

To many people dramatic criticism must seen like an attempt to tattoo soap bubbles.

John Mason Brown (1900-1969) American essayist, critic)

I find that when I dislike what I see on the stage I can be vastly amusing, but when I write about something I like I find that I am appallingly dull.

Sir Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) British author.

Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.

As a work of art it has the same status as a long conversation between two not very bright drunks.

Criticism, as it was first instituted by Aristotle, was meant as a standard of judging well.

Johnson.

Criticism is the child and handmaid of reflection. It works by censure, and censure implies a standard.

R.G. White.

It is ridiculous for any man to criticise the works of another if he has not distinguished himself by his own performances.

Addison.