Quotes: Criticism

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Criticism
Criticism 89 Three ways to revenge the world for censuring you: despise it, return it or avoid anything that can be censured. "There are but three ways for a man to revenge himself of a censorious world: to despise it, to return the like, or to endeavor to live so as to avoid it." Swift. 1711. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 201 Don't compliment and then follow it with a criticism. "You must not pay a person a compliment, and then straightway follow it with a criticism." Twain. Later 19th century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 203 When you're being criticized, you are being recognized as superior. "Censure is willingly indulged, because it always implies some superiority." Sam. Johnson. 1750-2. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 204 Insults are a sign of impotence. "Insults, sneers, and so forth are signs of impotence…." Valery. 1942. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 204 You will never know you are being criticized unless you have friends. "A man usually has no idea what is being said about him…entire town may be slandering him, but if he has no friends he will never hear of it." Balzac. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 205 If someone criticizes you, respond by saying, "He doesn't know me very well. There are so many other things he could have criticized me for." "If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: ‘He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.’ " Epictetus. 2nd century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 206 If you want to know someone else's failings, note what he criticizes others for. "Do you wish to find out a person’s weak points? Note the failings he has the quickest eye for in others." Julius Hare. 1827. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 207 "No man can escape blame in this world." The Dhammapada. 3rd century BC. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 231 Always assume a standing opposition party for whatever you do or say. "There is in my mind a standing opposition party which subsequently attacks everything I have done or decided, even after mature consideration, yet without its always being right… " Schopenhauer. 1857. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 242 Don't criticize what you don't know well. "Let not the shoemaker criticize beyond his last." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Criticism 296 Your reasoning might be good, but you are ignoring human nature. "Your reasoning is very good, but it is founded on ignorance of human nature." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Criticism 276 When an iconoclast turns on you, retort with confusing statistics. "She had the neophyte’s shock of discovery that…conservatives do not tremble and find no answer when an iconoclast turns on them, but retort with agility and confusing statistics." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Criticism 354 You can criticize customs if you follow them. "Think how much better you can criticize conventional customs if you yourself live up to them, scrupulously." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Criticism 126 Failure to criticizes implies lack of intelligence. "…as if they were afraid of being thought unintelligent if they could not find something to criticize in others’ discoveries." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.