Quotes about criticism

All my life people have said that I wasn't going to make it.

— Ted Turner

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

— Mark Twain

A critic is a man who knows the way, but can't drive the car.

— Kenneth Tynan

A good drama critic is one who perceives what is happening in the theatre of his time. A great drama critic also perceives what is not happening.

— Kenneth Tynan

Those who can -- do. Those who can't -- criticize.

— Source Unknown

He who throws dirt always loses ground.

— Source Unknown

For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

— Source Unknown

There is one way to handle the ignorant and malicious critic. Ignore him.

— Source Unknown

Having a sharp tongue will cut your throat

— Source Unknown

It is strange that we do not temper our resentment of criticism with a thought for our many faults which have escaped us.

— Source Unknown

It is usually best to be generous with praise, but cautious with criticism.

— Source Unknown

Many great ideas have been lost because the people who had them could not stand being laughed at.

— Source Unknown

The best criticism doesn't trap an employee or child in a dead end. It gives them an escape route.

— Source Unknown

Don't mind criticism. If it is untrue, disregard it; if unfair, keep from irritation; if it is ignorant, smile; if it is justified it is not criticism, learn from it.

— Source Unknown

All of us could take a lesson from the weather, it pays no attention to criticism.

— Source Unknown

Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do criticize him, you'll be a mile away and have his shoes.

— Source Unknown

Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine.

— Fran Lebowitz

Criticism is the disapproval of people, not for having faults, but having faults different from your own.

— Source Unknown

Writing criticism is to writing fiction and poetry as hugging the shore is to sailing in the open sea.

— John Updike

It is healthier, in any case, to write for the adults one's children will become than for the children one's mature critics often are.

— Alice Walker

A film is just like a muffin. You make it. You put it on the table. One person might say, Oh, I don't like it. One might say it's the best muffin ever made. One might say it's an awful muffin. It's hard for me to say. It's for me to make the muffin.

— Denzel Washington

Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.

— Rebecca West

After all, one knows one's weak points so well, that it's rather bewildering to have the critics overlook them and invent others.

— Edith Wharton

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

— James Mcneill Whistler

The true critic is he who bears within himself the dreams and ideas and feelings of myriad generations, and to whom no form of thought is alien, no emotional impulse obscure.

— Oscar Wilde

That is what the highest criticism really is, the record of one's own soul. It is more fascinating than history, as it is concerned simply with oneself. It is more delightful than philosophy, as its subject is concrete and not abstract, real and not vague. It is the only civilized form of autobiography.

— Oscar Wilde

Temperament is the primary requisite for the critic -- a temperament exquisitely susceptible to beauty, and to the various impressions that beauty gives us.

— Oscar Wilde

The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.

— Oscar Wilde

Every writer is necessarily a critic -- that is, each sentence is a skeleton accompanied by enormous activity of rejection; and each selection is governed by general principles concerning truth, force, beauty, and so on. The critic that is in every fabulist is like the iceberg -- nine-tenths of him is under water.

— Thornton Wilder

A friend is a lot of things, but a critic isn't.

— Bern Williams

It is just as hard to do your duty when men are sneering at you as when they are shouting at you.

— Woodrow T. Wilson

Remember that nobody will ever get ahead of you as long as he is kicking you in the seat of the pants.

— Walter Winchell

Not even the most powerful organs of the press, including Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times, can discover a new artist or certify his work and make it stick. They can only bring you the scores.

— Thomas Wolfe

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

There has never been a statue erected to honor a critic.

— Zig Ziglar

Criticism always follows worthwhile action. The opposite is seldom true.

— Torley Wong

Criticism always follows worthwhile action. The opposite is seldom true.

— Torley

Never defend yourself of words from a fool unless you are willing to become his/her equal.

— Gene Crawford

Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.

— Zig Ziglar

Don't take it personally; take it professionally.

— Gordon Ramsay

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

You Cannot Refrain, Cease, Or Avoid Criticism Since Critics Feed Themselves By Passing Guild To Others To Regain Energy

— Mokgehle William wisbar

You cannot refrain, cease, or avoid criticism since critics feed themselves by passing guild to others to regain energy

— Mokgehle William wisbar

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

— Oscar Wilde