Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist
Criticism
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VII - On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books
“Critics generally come to be critics by reason not of their fitness for this but of their unfitness for anything else.”
Criticism
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VII - On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books
Context: Critics generally come to be critics by reason not of their fitness for this but of their unfitness for anything else. Books should be tried by a judge and jury as though they were crimes, and counsel should be heard on both sides.
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Samuel Butler232
novelist 1835–1902Related quotes
“The worst of doing one's duty was that it apparently unfitted one for doing anything else.”
Edith Wharton The Age of Innocence
Source: The Age of Innocence (1920), Ch. 34
“Kant's critical philosophy is the most elaborate fit of panic in the history of the Earth.”
Nick Land (1962) British philosopher
Source: The Thirst for Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent Nihilism (1992), Chapter 1: "The death of sound philosophy", p. 1
“A literary critic of experience never defines anything.”
Northrop Frye (1912–1991) Canadian literary critic and literary theorist
Source: "Quotes", Interviews with Northrop Frye (2008), p. 4
Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate
Source: Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say (2000), p. 21.
“Reason operates critically in any number of different ways.”
Roger Haight (1936) American theologian
Source: Dynamics Of Theology, Chapter Two, Faith and the Community of Beliefs, p. 39
Julia Gillard (1961) Australian politician and lawyer, 27th Prime Minister of Australia
The Killing Season, Episode two: Great Moral Challenge (2009–10)
Karl Popper (1902–1994) Austrian-British philosopher of science
"On Freedom" in All Life is Problem Solving (1999)
Context: When I speak of reason or rationalism, all I mean is the conviction that we can learn through criticism of our mistakes and errors, especially through criticism by others, and eventually also through self-criticism. A rationalist is simply someone for whom it is more important to learn than to be proved right; someone who is willing to learn from others — not by simply taking over another's opinions, but by gladly allowing others to criticize his ideas and by gladly criticizing the ideas of others. The emphasis here is on the idea of criticism or, to be more precise, critical discussion. The genuine rationalist does not think that he or anyone else is in possession of the truth; nor does he think that mere criticism as such helps us achieve new ideas. But he does think that, in the sphere of ideas, only critical discussion can help us sort the wheat from the chaff. He is well aware that acceptance or rejection of an idea is never a purely rational matter; but he thinks that only critical discussion can give us the maturity to see an idea from more and more sides and to make a correct judgement of it.
“I don't know a critic who penetrates the center of anything.”
Arthur Miller (1915–2005) playwright from the United States
As quoted in "Arthur Miller, Moral Voice of American Stage, Dies at 89" by Marilyn Berger in The New York Times (11 February 2005)
“The practice of "reviewing"… in general has nothing in common with the art of criticism.”
Henry James (1843–1916) American novelist, short story author, and literary critic
Criticism (1893).