Honest criticism is hard to take - especially when it comes from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a read more

Honest criticism is hard to take - especially when it comes from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.

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.

Reviewers are usually people who would have been poets,
historians, biographers, etc., if they could: they have tried
read more

Reviewers are usually people who would have been poets,
historians, biographers, etc., if they could: they have tried
their talents at one or the other, and have failed; therefore
they turn critics.

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.

I criticize by creation--not by finding fault.

I criticize by creation--not by finding fault.

A servile race
Who, in mere want of fault, all merit place;
Who blind obedience pay to read more

A servile race
Who, in mere want of fault, all merit place;
Who blind obedience pay to ancient schools,
Bigots to Greece, and slaves to musty rules.

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.

Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors.

Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors.

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.