Quotes by Critic | Beyond Motive 2/30

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Quotes by Critic

"His style has the desperate jauntiness of an orchestra fiddling away for dear life on a sinking ship."

"His style has the desperate jauntiness of an orchestra fiddling away for dear life on a sinking ship."

Edmund Wilson, American Critic

40

"You can't believe Russell Crowe is the same actor who won an Oscar one year ago for Gladiator."

"You can't believe Russell Crowe is the same actor who won an Oscar one year ago for Gladiator."

Joel Siegel, American Critic

40

"I think Henry Miller has had huge influence not because he wrote about sex, but because the memoir or the nonfiction novel has become such a monumental force in American publishing, if not in literature."

"I think Henry Miller has had huge influence not because he wrote about sex, but because the memoir or the nonfiction novel has become such a monumental force in American publishing, if not in literature."

Leslie Fiedler, American Critic

Sex, Force, Influence

40

"To burn always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life."

"To burn always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life."

Walter Pater, English Critic

Life, Success, Ecstasy

39

"Geography is about maps, but biography is about chaps."

"Geography is about maps, but biography is about chaps."

Eric Bentley, English Critic

Geography, Biography

39

"The new job of art is to sit on the wall and get more expensive."

"The new job of art is to sit on the wall and get more expensive."

Robert Hughes, Australian Critic

39

"You know more of a road by having traveled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world."

"You know more of a road by having traveled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world."

William Hazlitt, English Critic

39

"I think Freud is about contamination, but I think that is something he learned from Shakespeare, because Shakespeare is about nothing but contamination, you might say."

"I think Freud is about contamination, but I think that is something he learned from Shakespeare, because Shakespeare is about nothing but contamination, you might say."

Harold Bloom, American Critic

Nothing, Shakespeare

38

"The industrial revolution has tended to produce everywhere great urban masses that seem to be increasingly careless of ethical standards."

"The industrial revolution has tended to produce everywhere great urban masses that seem to be increasingly careless of ethical standards."

Irving Babbitt, American Critic

38

"A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles."

"A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles."

William Hazlitt, English Critic

Work, Miracles, Smile, Wonders

38

"I AM a male chauvinist. Who's been saying otherwise?"

"I AM a male chauvinist. Who's been saying otherwise?"

Joe Bob Briggs, American Critic

38

"Memory is not an instrument for exploring the past but its theatre. It is the medium of past experience, as the ground is the medium in which dead cities lie interred."

"Memory is not an instrument for exploring the past but its theatre. It is the medium of past experience, as the ground is the medium in which dead cities lie interred."

Walter Benjamin, German Critic

Experience, Lie, Cities, Memory

38

"Seduction is often difficult to distinguish from rape. In seduction, the rapist often bothers to buy a bottle of wine."

"Seduction is often difficult to distinguish from rape. In seduction, the rapist often bothers to buy a bottle of wine."

Andrea Dworkin, American Critic

Personal, Seduction, Wine

37

"Never trust a man who speaks well of everybody."

"Never trust a man who speaks well of everybody."

John Churton Collins, English Critic

37

"I admire Ginsberg as a poet, despite the fact that he seems not to know when he is being good and when he is bad. But he will last, or at least those poems will last."

"I admire Ginsberg as a poet, despite the fact that he seems not to know when he is being good and when he is bad. But he will last, or at least those poems will last."

Leslie Fiedler, American Critic

Being, Fact, Poems, Will

37

"The human mind, if it is to keep its sanity, must maintain the nicest balance between unity and plurality."

"The human mind, if it is to keep its sanity, must maintain the nicest balance between unity and plurality."

Irving Babbitt, American Critic

Balance, Mind, Sanity, Unity

37

"In the last couple of years, fashion's gotten a lot safer. People are really pulling back."

"In the last couple of years, fashion's gotten a lot safer. People are really pulling back."

Steven Cojocaru, Canadian Critic

People, Fashion, Years

36

"The "Western" is the only genre whose origins are almost identical with those of the cinema itself."

"The "Western" is the only genre whose origins are almost identical with those of the cinema itself."

Andre Bazin, French Critic

36

"All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music."

"All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music."

Walter Pater, English Critic

36

"I mean Iggy and The Stooges first couple of albums I think sold twenty five thousand between the two of them you know and so to talk in terms of an underground I mean you have to go really to the independent labels and things like that."

"I mean Iggy and The Stooges first couple of albums I think sold twenty five thousand between the two of them you know and so to talk in terms of an underground I mean you have to go really to the independent labels and things like that."

Lester Bangs, American Critic

Music, First, Talk

36

"What the public wants is the image of passion, not passion itself."

"What the public wants is the image of passion, not passion itself."

Roland Barthes, French Critic

Passion, Public

36

"We all get swept up in the hype machine. Nobody is immune to that."

"We all get swept up in the hype machine. Nobody is immune to that."

Steven Cojocaru, Canadian Critic

36

"Ordinary morality is only for ordinary people."

"Ordinary morality is only for ordinary people."

Aleister Crowley, English Critic

Morality, People

35

"The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire."

"The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire."

Pamela Hansford Johnson, English Critic

Fire, Sky, Sunset, Water

35

"Only the dreamer shall understand realities, though in truth his dreaming must be not out of proportion to his waking."

"Only the dreamer shall understand realities, though in truth his dreaming must be not out of proportion to his waking."

Margaret Fuller, American Critic

35

"The problem with being sure that God is on your side is that you can't change your mind, because God sure isn't going to change His."

"The problem with being sure that God is on your side is that you can't change your mind, because God sure isn't going to change His."

Roger Ebert, American Critic

Change, God, Being, Mind

35

"If you read quickly to get through a poem to what it means, you have missed the body of the poem."

"If you read quickly to get through a poem to what it means, you have missed the body of the poem."

M. H. Abrams, American Critic

35

"Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city."

"Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city."

Anatole Broyard, American Critic

Art, Rome, Service

35

"I have never believed that the critic is the rival of the poet, but I do believe that criticism is a genre of literature or it does not exist."

"I have never believed that the critic is the rival of the poet, but I do believe that criticism is a genre of literature or it does not exist."

Harold Bloom, American Critic

Criticism, Literature

35

"Only when manhood is dead - and it will perish when ravaged femininity no longer sustains it - only then will we know what it is to be free."

"Only when manhood is dead - and it will perish when ravaged femininity no longer sustains it - only then will we know what it is to be free."

Andrea Dworkin, American Critic

Freedom, Femininity, Will

35

"The essays are very solipsistic and self-absorbed, I'm totally conscious of that. To me, book writing is fun, and I basically just write about things that are entertaining to myself."

"The essays are very solipsistic and self-absorbed, I'm totally conscious of that. To me, book writing is fun, and I basically just write about things that are entertaining to myself."

Chuck Klosterman, American Critic

Fun, Self, Writing

34

"Everyone is looking for the sure thing. They are looking to hedge their bet. They think the way to do that is to go with a proven quantity, a remake of something you have already seen. That is their mindset."

"Everyone is looking for the sure thing. They are looking to hedge their bet. They think the way to do that is to go with a proven quantity, a remake of something you have already seen. That is their mindset."

Leonard Maltin, American Critic

Originality, Quantity

34

"Two persons love in one another the future good which they aid one another to unfold."

"Two persons love in one another the future good which they aid one another to unfold."

Margaret Fuller, American Critic

34

"Be kind and considerate with your criticism... It's just as hard to write a bad book as it is to write a good book."

"Be kind and considerate with your criticism... It's just as hard to write a bad book as it is to write a good book."

Malcolm Cowley, American Critic

34

"A novel is a static thing that one moves through; a play is a dynamic thing that moves past one."

"A novel is a static thing that one moves through; a play is a dynamic thing that moves past one."

Kenneth Tynan, English Critic

33

"If you dress like a movie star, you have me."

"If you dress like a movie star, you have me."

Steven Cojocaru, Canadian Critic

33

"A neurosis is a secret that you don't know you are keeping."

"A neurosis is a secret that you don't know you are keeping."

Kenneth Tynan, English Critic

Psychology, Neurosis

33

"It is of the essence of imaginative culture that it transcends the limits both of the naturally possible and of the morally acceptable."

"It is of the essence of imaginative culture that it transcends the limits both of the naturally possible and of the morally acceptable."

Northrop Frye, Canadian Critic

Cultural, Culture, Limits

33

"Truth is the object of philosophy, but not always of philosophers."

"Truth is the object of philosophy, but not always of philosophers."

John Churton Collins, English Critic

Truth, Philosophy

33

"You know, a left-winger, the barrier to success if you're on the left in commercial radio is a mile and a half higher than it is if you're on the right."

"You know, a left-winger, the barrier to success if you're on the left in commercial radio is a mile and a half higher than it is if you're on the right."

Robert McChesney, American Critic

33

"For precocity some great price is always demanded sooner or later in life."

"For precocity some great price is always demanded sooner or later in life."

Margaret Fuller, American Critic

33

"For art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply for those moments' sake."

"For art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply for those moments' sake."

Walter Pater, English Critic

Art, Quality, Moments, Nothing

33

"Half our mistakes in life arise from feeling where we ought to think, and thinking where we ought to feel."

"Half our mistakes in life arise from feeling where we ought to think, and thinking where we ought to feel."

John Churton Collins, English Critic

Life, Feeling, Mistakes, Thinking

33

"Talent is what you possess; genius is what possesses you."

"Talent is what you possess; genius is what possesses you."

Malcolm Cowley, American Critic

33

"Death is the sanction of everything the story-teller can tell. He has borrowed his authority from death."

"Death is the sanction of everything the story-teller can tell. He has borrowed his authority from death."

Walter Benjamin, German Critic

Death, Authority

33

"Erotica is simply high-class pornography; better produced, better conceived, better executed, better packaged, designed for a better class of consumer."

"Erotica is simply high-class pornography; better produced, better conceived, better executed, better packaged, designed for a better class of consumer."

Andrea Dworkin, American Critic

Erotica, Class, Pornography

33

"We are human, and nothing is more interesting to us than humanity."

"We are human, and nothing is more interesting to us than humanity."

M. H. Abrams, American Critic

Humanity, Nothing

33

"Aphorisms are bad for novels. They stick in the reader's teeth."

"Aphorisms are bad for novels. They stick in the reader's teeth."

Anatole Broyard, American Critic

33

"Science is always discovering odd scraps of magical wisdom and making a tremendous fuss about its cleverness."

"Science is always discovering odd scraps of magical wisdom and making a tremendous fuss about its cleverness."

Aleister Crowley, English Critic

Science, Wisdom, Cleverness

32

"The first mistake of art is to assume that it's serious."

"The first mistake of art is to assume that it's serious."

Lester Bangs, American Critic

Art, Mistake, First

32

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