The press, the pulpit, and the stage,
Conspire to censure and expose our age.

The press, the pulpit, and the stage,
Conspire to censure and expose our age.

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.

A man must serve his time to every trade
Save censure--critics all are ready made.
Take hackney'd read more

A man must serve his time to every trade
Save censure--critics all are ready made.
Take hackney'd jokes from Miller, got by rote,
With just enough of learning to misquote;
A mind well skill'd to find or forge a fault;
A turn for punning, call it Attic salt;
To Jeffrey go, be silent and discreet,
His pay is just ten sterling pounds per sheet;
Fear not to lie, 'twill seem a lucky hit;
Shrink not from blasphemy, 'twill pass for wit;
Care not for feeling--pass your proper jest,
And stand a critic, hated yet caress'd.

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

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

Too nicely Jonson knew the critic's part,
Nature in him was almost lost in art.

Too nicely Jonson knew the critic's part,
Nature in him was almost lost in art.

When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own read more

When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.

But, spite of all the criticising elves,
Those who would make us feel, must feel themselves.

But, spite of all the criticising elves,
Those who would make us feel, must feel themselves.

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

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

Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.

Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.