Quotes by Critic | Beyond Motive 23/32

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Quotes by Critic

"One shining quality lends a lustre to another, or hides some glaring defect."

"One shining quality lends a lustre to another, or hides some glaring defect."

William Hazlitt, English Critic

28

"Clap an extinguisher upon your irony if you are unhappily blessed with a vein of it."

"Clap an extinguisher upon your irony if you are unhappily blessed with a vein of it."

Charles Lamb, English Critic

28

"Disarmament or limitation of armaments, which depends on the progress made on security, also contributes to the maintenance of peace."

"Disarmament or limitation of armaments, which depends on the progress made on security, also contributes to the maintenance of peace."

Ludwig Quidde, German Critic

Peace, Progress, Security

28

"Nothing is sadder than having worldly standards without worldly means."

"Nothing is sadder than having worldly standards without worldly means."

Van Wyck Brooks, American Critic

28

"It comes from the likes of you! Take what you can get! Grab the chances as they come along! Act in hallways! Sing in doorways! Dance in cellars!"

"It comes from the likes of you! Take what you can get! Grab the chances as they come along! Act in hallways! Sing in doorways! Dance in cellars!"

Alexander Woollcott, American Critic

28

"Even though we're a week and a half away from Thanksgiving, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

"Even though we're a week and a half away from Thanksgiving, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

Richard Roeper, American Critic

Beginning, Christmas, Thanksgiving

28

"Sorrows cannot all be explained away in a life truly lived, grief and loss accumulate like possessions."

"Sorrows cannot all be explained away in a life truly lived, grief and loss accumulate like possessions."

Stefan Kanfer, American Critic

Life, Grief, Loss, Possessions

28

"The novel doesn't come into existence until certain methods of reproducing fiction come along."

"The novel doesn't come into existence until certain methods of reproducing fiction come along."

Leslie Fiedler, American Critic

Existence, Fiction

28

"In a sense it might even be said that our failure is to form habits: for, after all, habit is relative to a stereotyped world, and meantime it is only the roughness of the eye that makes two persons, things, situations, seem alike."

"In a sense it might even be said that our failure is to form habits: for, after all, habit is relative to a stereotyped world, and meantime it is only the roughness of the eye that makes two persons, things, situations, seem alike."

Walter Pater, English Critic

Failure, Habit, Eye, Sense

28

"There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day."

"There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day."

Alexander Woollcott, American Critic

28

"Heightened awareness often gives the illusion that a problem is lessening. This is most often not the case. It may mean simply that a problem has become so widespread it can no longer remain hidden or be ignored."

"Heightened awareness often gives the illusion that a problem is lessening. This is most often not the case. It may mean simply that a problem has become so widespread it can no longer remain hidden or be ignored."

bell hooks, American Critic

Awareness, Problem, Illusion, Reality

28

"A commitment to sexual equality with males is a commitment to becoming the rich instead of the poor, the rapist instead of the raped, the murderer instead of the murdered."

"A commitment to sexual equality with males is a commitment to becoming the rich instead of the poor, the rapist instead of the raped, the murderer instead of the murdered."

Andrea Dworkin, American Critic

Equality, Commitment, Poor

28

"What I've found is that there is a tremendous interest in these issues, across the political spectrum, sort of left-right terms we used to describe people don't really hold here exactly."

"What I've found is that there is a tremendous interest in these issues, across the political spectrum, sort of left-right terms we used to describe people don't really hold here exactly."

Robert McChesney, American Critic

People, Interest

28

"Art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass."

"Art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass."

Walter Pater, English Critic

Art, Quality, Moments, Nothing

27

"This is the great vice of academicism, that it is concerned with ideas rather than with thinking."

"This is the great vice of academicism, that it is concerned with ideas rather than with thinking."

Lionel Trilling, American Critic

Creativity, Ideas, Thinking, Vice

27

"Many of us spend half of our time wishing for things we could have if we didn't spend half our time wishing."

"Many of us spend half of our time wishing for things we could have if we didn't spend half our time wishing."

Alexander Woollcott, American Critic

27

"Shakespeare is universal."

"Shakespeare is universal."

Harold Bloom, American Critic

Literature, Shakespeare

27

"Uncertainty is the worst of all evils until the moment when reality makes us regret uncertainty."

"Uncertainty is the worst of all evils until the moment when reality makes us regret uncertainty."

Alphonse Karr, French Critic

Reality, Regret, Uncertainty

27

"Which is supposed to mean they're doing something in their broadcasting they would not do is they were simply out to maximize profit; if they were really public service institutions, not purely profit maximizing institutions."

"Which is supposed to mean they're doing something in their broadcasting they would not do is they were simply out to maximize profit; if they were really public service institutions, not purely profit maximizing institutions."

Robert McChesney, American Critic

Media, Profit, Public, Service

27

"The only result of our present system - unless we reverse the drift - must be the gradual extension of the fascist sector and the gradual disappearance of the system of free enterprise under a free representative government."

"The only result of our present system - unless we reverse the drift - must be the gradual extension of the fascist sector and the gradual disappearance of the system of free enterprise under a free representative government."

John T. Flynn, American Critic

Government, Present, Result

27

"People everywhere enjoy believing things that they know are not true. It spares them the ordeal of thinking for themselves and taking responsibility for what they know."

"People everywhere enjoy believing things that they know are not true. It spares them the ordeal of thinking for themselves and taking responsibility for what they know."

Brooks Atkinson, American Critic

People, Responsibility, Thinking

27

"If one truly has lost hope, one would not be on hand to say so."

"If one truly has lost hope, one would not be on hand to say so."

Eric Bentley, English Critic

27

"No other group in America has so had their identity socialized out of existence as have black women... When black people are talked about the focus tends to be on black men; and when women are talked about the focus tends to be on white women."

"No other group in America has so had their identity socialized out of existence as have black women... When black people are talked about the focus tends to be on black men; and when women are talked about the focus tends to be on white women."

bell hooks, American Critic

Woman, Women, People, America, Existence

27

"Half the world is composed of idiots, the other half of people clever enough to take indecent advantage of them."

"Half the world is composed of idiots, the other half of people clever enough to take indecent advantage of them."

Walter Kerr, American Critic

People, Idiots, World

27

"The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination."

"The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination."

Elizabeth Hardwick, American Critic

Reading, Experience, Knowledge, Passion

27

"Absolute truth belongs to Thee alone."

"Absolute truth belongs to Thee alone."

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German Critic

27

"There is nothing good to be had in the country, or if there is, they will not let you have it."

"There is nothing good to be had in the country, or if there is, they will not let you have it."

William Hazlitt, English Critic

Nation, Country, Nothing, Will

27

"He must not laugh at his own wheeze: a snuff box has no right to sneeze."

"He must not laugh at his own wheeze: a snuff box has no right to sneeze."

Keith Preston, American Critic

27

"But I never listen to music while I'm writing."

"But I never listen to music while I'm writing."

Stephen Greenblatt, American Critic

27

"People are looking around. They are looking to do something with their time and money. The question is, what?"

"People are looking around. They are looking to do something with their time and money. The question is, what?"

John Simon, American Critic

Time, Money, People, Question

27

"The English have an extraordinary ability for flying into a great calm."

"The English have an extraordinary ability for flying into a great calm."

Alexander Woollcott, American Critic

Ability, English, Flying

27

"The novel is the first art form that is an honest-to-god commodity. That's what makes it different from both high art and folk art."

"The novel is the first art form that is an honest-to-god commodity. That's what makes it different from both high art and folk art."

Leslie Fiedler, American Critic

Art, First, Folk

27

"Our society has gotten to the point where we might soon become less and less shocked by any kind of violence."

"Our society has gotten to the point where we might soon become less and less shocked by any kind of violence."

Stanley Crouch, American Critic

Society, Violence

27

"A counted number of pulses only is given to us of a variegated, dramatic life. How may we see in them all that is to to be seen in them by the finest senses?"

"A counted number of pulses only is given to us of a variegated, dramatic life. How may we see in them all that is to to be seen in them by the finest senses?"

Walter Pater, English Critic

Life, May, Senses

27

"The White House alone cannot hold its opponents accountable."

"The White House alone cannot hold its opponents accountable."

Paul Weyrich, American Critic

Politics, Opponents

27

"In life, particularly in public life, psychology is more powerful than logic."

"In life, particularly in public life, psychology is more powerful than logic."

Ludwig Quidde, German Critic

Life, Logic, Psychology, Public

27

"I've been at this for 40 years. And, as an academic, I've been content with relatively small audiences, with the thought that the audience I long for will find its way eventually to what I have written, provided that what I have written is good enough."

"I've been at this for 40 years. And, as an academic, I've been content with relatively small audiences, with the thought that the audience I long for will find its way eventually to what I have written, provided that what I have written is good enough."

Stephen Greenblatt, American Critic

Thought, Audiences, Content, Will

26

"When we love children, we acknowledge by our every action that they are not property, that they have rights - that we respect and uphold their rights."

"When we love children, we acknowledge by our every action that they are not property, that they have rights - that we respect and uphold their rights."

bell hooks, American Critic

Justice, Children, Rights, Love, Respect

26

"I was born with this. It's a hereditary genetic condition. This is something you can go your whole life without really knowing that something's wrong. I had high blood pressure, and that was the first sign."

"I was born with this. It's a hereditary genetic condition. This is something you can go your whole life without really knowing that something's wrong. I had high blood pressure, and that was the first sign."

Steven Cojocaru, Canadian Critic

Life, Blood, First, Pressure

26

"Love is the most terrible, and also the most generous of the passions; it is the only one which includes in its dreams the happiness of someone else."

"Love is the most terrible, and also the most generous of the passions; it is the only one which includes in its dreams the happiness of someone else."

Alphonse Karr, French Critic

Dream, Dreams, Happiness, Love

26

"Old age is an excellent time for outrage. My goal is to say or do at least one outrageous thing every week."

"Old age is an excellent time for outrage. My goal is to say or do at least one outrageous thing every week."

Louis Kronenberger, American Critic

Age, Time, Goal, Old

26

"Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears."

"Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears."

Barbara Johnson, American Critic

Ability, Patience

26

"The Shakespeare that Shakespeare became is the name that's attached to these astonishing objects that he left behind."

"The Shakespeare that Shakespeare became is the name that's attached to these astonishing objects that he left behind."

Stephen Greenblatt, American Critic

Literature, Name, Shakespeare

26

"The mere process of growing old together will make our slightest acquaintances seem like bosom friends."

"The mere process of growing old together will make our slightest acquaintances seem like bosom friends."

Logan Pearsall Smith, American Critic

Friendship, Friends, Old, Will

26

"That sense of a life in natural objects, which in most poetry is but a rhetorical artifice, was, then, in Wordsworth the assertion of what was for him almost literal fact."

"That sense of a life in natural objects, which in most poetry is but a rhetorical artifice, was, then, in Wordsworth the assertion of what was for him almost literal fact."

Walter Pater, English Critic

Life, Poetry, Fact, Sense

26

"Look up, laugh loud, talk big, keep the color in your cheek and the fire in your eye, adorn your person, maintain your health, your beauty and your animal spirits."

"Look up, laugh loud, talk big, keep the color in your cheek and the fire in your eye, adorn your person, maintain your health, your beauty and your animal spirits."

William Hazlitt, English Critic

Beauty, Health, Eye, Fire

26

"Henry Miller wrote novels, but he calls his protagonist Henry, often Henry Miller, and his books are in this gray area between memoir and novel."

"Henry Miller wrote novels, but he calls his protagonist Henry, often Henry Miller, and his books are in this gray area between memoir and novel."

Leslie Fiedler, American Critic

25

"No one likes change but babies in diapers."

"No one likes change but babies in diapers."

Barbara Johnson, American Critic

25

"Familiar life, tending to sordidness, had been succeeded by remote life, generally idealized; historical detail had been brought in to teach readers who were being entertained."

"Familiar life, tending to sordidness, had been succeeded by remote life, generally idealized; historical detail had been brought in to teach readers who were being entertained."

Carl Clinton Van Doren, American Critic

Life, Being, Detail

25

"IT is mere coincidence that Cooper was born in the year which produced The Power of Sympathy and that when he died Uncle Tom's Cabin was passing through its serial stage, and yet the limits of his life mark almost exactly the first great period of American fiction."

"IT is mere coincidence that Cooper was born in the year which produced The Power of Sympathy and that when he died Uncle Tom's Cabin was passing through its serial stage, and yet the limits of his life mark almost exactly the first great period of American fiction."

Carl Clinton Van Doren, American Critic

Life, Power, Sympathy

25

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