If you have no will to change it, you have no right to criticize it

If you have no will to change it, you have no right to criticize it

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.

Reviewers are forever telling authors they can't understand them.
The author might often reply: Is that my fault?

Reviewers are forever telling authors they can't understand them.
The author might often reply: Is that my fault?

The public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all.

The public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all.

Criticism is easy, and art is difficult.
[Fr., La critique est aisee, et l'art est difficile.]

Criticism is easy, and art is difficult.
[Fr., La critique est aisee, et l'art est difficile.]

I never give them hell; I just tell them the truth and they think it is hell.

I never give them hell; I just tell them the truth and they think it is hell.

The strength of criticism lies in the weakness of the thing criticized.

The strength of criticism lies in the weakness of the thing criticized.

When I read the rules of criticism, I immediately inquire after
the works of the author who has written read more

When I read the rules of criticism, I immediately inquire after
the works of the author who has written them, and by that means
discover what it is he likes in a composition.

The most noble criticism is that in which the critic is not the
antagonist so much as the rival read more

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