Quotes by Critic | Beyond Motive 3/30

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Quotes by Critic

"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

23

"The argument between wives and whores is an old one; each one thinking that whatever she is, at least she is not the other."

"The argument between wives and whores is an old one; each one thinking that whatever she is, at least she is not the other."

Andrea Dworkin, American Critic

Argument, Old, Thinking, Wives

23

"Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience. A rustling in the leaves drives him away."

"Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience. A rustling in the leaves drives him away."

Walter Benjamin, German Critic

Experience, Dream, Boredom

22

"Since men are not equals in white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal class structure, which men do women want to be equal to?"

"Since men are not equals in white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal class structure, which men do women want to be equal to?"

bell hooks, American Critic

Feminism, Equality, Class, Race

22

"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

22

"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure."

"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure."

George Edward Woodberry, American Critic

Failure, Defeat

22

"I now know all the people worth knowing in America, and I find no intellect comparable to my own."

"I now know all the people worth knowing in America, and I find no intellect comparable to my own."

Margaret Fuller, American Critic

People, America, Intellect, Now

22

"I do my best not to have any expectations when I go into a movie because it's not fair."

"I do my best not to have any expectations when I go into a movie because it's not fair."

Joel Siegel, American Critic

Expectation, Expectations

22

"The studio should not have released this film."

"The studio should not have released this film."

Joel Siegel, American Critic

22

"The critical method which denies literary modernity would appear - and even, in certain respects, would be - the most modern of critical movements."

"The critical method which denies literary modernity would appear - and even, in certain respects, would be - the most modern of critical movements."

Paul de Man, Belgian Critic

Modernity, Literary

22

"A grave blockhead should always go about with a lively one - they show one another off to the best advantage."

"A grave blockhead should always go about with a lively one - they show one another off to the best advantage."

William Hazlitt, English Critic

Personality, Grave

22

"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

22

"The significance of feminist movement (when it is not co-opted by opportunistic, reactionary forces) is that it offers a new ideological meeting ground for the sexes, a space for criticism, struggle, and transformation."

"The significance of feminist movement (when it is not co-opted by opportunistic, reactionary forces) is that it offers a new ideological meeting ground for the sexes, a space for criticism, struggle, and transformation."

bell hooks, American Critic

Feminism, Movement, Transformation, Ideology

22

"The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy."

"The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy."

William Hazlitt, English Critic

Forgiveness, Hypocrisy, Repentance, Vice

22

"In the past, children learned their values at home, reinforced by organizations such as the Boy Scouts and, of course, their church or synagogue, but in all too many families that is no longer the case."

"In the past, children learned their values at home, reinforced by organizations such as the Boy Scouts and, of course, their church or synagogue, but in all too many families that is no longer the case."

Paul Weyrich, American Critic

Home, Values, Church, Children

22

"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

21

"Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But in fact they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman."

"Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But in fact they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman."

Margaret Fuller, American Critic

Fact, Man, Radical, Woman

21

"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

21

"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

21

"The writer's language is to some degree the product of his own action; he is both the historian and the agent of his own language."

"The writer's language is to some degree the product of his own action; he is both the historian and the agent of his own language."

Paul de Man, Belgian Critic

Action, Language, Writer

21

"Art and Religion are, then, two roads by which men escape from circumstance to ecstasy. Between aesthetic and religious rapture there is a family alliance. Art and Religion are means to similar states of mind."

"Art and Religion are, then, two roads by which men escape from circumstance to ecstasy. Between aesthetic and religious rapture there is a family alliance. Art and Religion are means to similar states of mind."

Clive Bell, English Critic

Art, Family, Men, Religion

21

"After 27 years, I walked out of my first one a few months ago. Black Sheep with Chris Farley."

"After 27 years, I walked out of my first one a few months ago. Black Sheep with Chris Farley."

Gene Siskel, American Critic

Entertainment, First, Months, Sheep, Years

21

"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

21

"The United States has made a massive effort since the end of the Second World War to secure the dominance of its films in foreign markets - an achievement generally pushed home politically, by writing clauses into various treaties and aid packages."

"The United States has made a massive effort since the end of the Second World War to secure the dominance of its films in foreign markets - an achievement generally pushed home politically, by writing clauses into various treaties and aid packages."

Fredric Jameson, American Critic

Home, War, Achievement, Effort

21

"Our struggle for liberation has significance only if it takes place within a feminist movement that has as its fundamental goal the liberation of all people."

"Our struggle for liberation has significance only if it takes place within a feminist movement that has as its fundamental goal the liberation of all people."

bell hooks, American Critic

Activism, Liberation, Feminism, Equality, Movement

21

"On the whole, the world was friendly. It chiefly depended on whether one were good or not."

"On the whole, the world was friendly. It chiefly depended on whether one were good or not."

Georg Brandes, Danish Critic

21

"If you give an audience a chance they will do half your acting for you."

"If you give an audience a chance they will do half your acting for you."

William Hazlitt, English Critic

Acting, Chance, Will

21

"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

21

"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

20

"The ordinary man looking at a mountain is like an illiterate person confronted with a Greek manuscript."

"The ordinary man looking at a mountain is like an illiterate person confronted with a Greek manuscript."

Aleister Crowley, English Critic

20

"All disgust is originally disgust at touching."

"All disgust is originally disgust at touching."

Walter Benjamin, German Critic

20

"If it is, in reality, capitalism that is the motor force behind the destructive forms of globalization, then it must be in their capacity to neutralize or transform this particular mode of exploitation that one can best test these various forms of resistance to the West."

"If it is, in reality, capitalism that is the motor force behind the destructive forms of globalization, then it must be in their capacity to neutralize or transform this particular mode of exploitation that one can best test these various forms of resistance to the West."

Fredric Jameson, American Critic

Capitalism, Exploitation, Force, Globalization

20

"There is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate income."

"There is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate income."

Edmund Wilson, American Critic

Income, Nothing

20

"Very early, I knew that the only object in life was to grow."

"Very early, I knew that the only object in life was to grow."

Margaret Fuller, American Critic

20

"I am suffocated and lost when I have not the bright feeling of progression."

"I am suffocated and lost when I have not the bright feeling of progression."

Margaret Fuller, American Critic

Emotional, Feeling

20

"Literature is without proofs. By which it must be understood that it cannot prove, not only what it says, but even that it is worth the trouble of saying it."

"Literature is without proofs. By which it must be understood that it cannot prove, not only what it says, but even that it is worth the trouble of saying it."

Roland Barthes, French Critic

Literature, Saying, Trouble, Worth

20

"The sheer complexity of writing a play always had dazzled me. In an effort to understand it, I became a critic."

"The sheer complexity of writing a play always had dazzled me. In an effort to understand it, I became a critic."

Kenneth Tynan, English Critic

Writing, Complexity, Effort, Play

20

"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

20

"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

20

"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

20

"Prejudice is the child of ignorance."

"Prejudice is the child of ignorance."

William Hazlitt, English Critic

Ignorance, Prejudice

20

"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

20

"No one is worthy of a good home here or in heaven that is not willing to be in peril for a good cause."

"No one is worthy of a good home here or in heaven that is not willing to be in peril for a good cause."

John Mason Brown, American Critic

Home, Cause, Heaven

20

"He will never have true friends who is afraid of making enemies."

"He will never have true friends who is afraid of making enemies."

William Hazlitt, English Critic

Friendship, Enemies, Friends, Will

20

"Some television programs are so much chewing gum for the eyes."

"Some television programs are so much chewing gum for the eyes."

John Mason Brown, American Critic

Television, Eyes

19

"When something startlingly new comes up, young people, especially, seize it. You can't complain about that. I think its heyday has passed, but it's had an effect and will continue to have an effect."

"When something startlingly new comes up, young people, especially, seize it. You can't complain about that. I think its heyday has passed, but it's had an effect and will continue to have an effect."

M. H. Abrams, American Critic

People, Effect, Will

19

"How prophetic L'Enfant was when he laid out Washington as a city that goes around in circles!"

"How prophetic L'Enfant was when he laid out Washington as a city that goes around in circles!"

John Mason Brown, American Critic

Urban Planning, Washington

19

"I'll name names, you know I won't hold back."

"I'll name names, you know I won't hold back."

Steven Cojocaru, Canadian Critic

19

"Faith is like a kernel of wheat."

"Faith is like a kernel of wheat."

Joe Bob Briggs, American Critic

19

"If you're doing an interview, you need conversational tension. After you talk to them, you're not going to have a relationship with them, they're not going to like you, they're not going to be your friend."

"If you're doing an interview, you need conversational tension. After you talk to them, you're not going to have a relationship with them, they're not going to like you, they're not going to be your friend."

Chuck Klosterman, American Critic

Friendship, Friend, Talk, Tension

19

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