“A good drama critic is one who perceives what is happening in the theatre of his time. A great drama critic also perceives what is not happening.”
Foreword
Tynan Right and Left (1967)
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Kenneth Tynan40
English theatre critic and writer 1927–1980Related quotes
“Of what’s to come the wise perceive
things about to happen.”
Constantine P. Cavafy (1863–1933) Greek poet
But the Wise Perceive Things about to Happen http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=128&cat=1 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992) <br class="br">Context: Of what’s to come the wise perceive<br>things about to happen. Sometimes during moments of intense study<br>their hearing’s troubled: the hidden sound<br>of things approaching reaches them,<br>and they listen reverently, while in the street outside<br>the people hear nothing whatsoever.
“If Attila the Hun were alive today, he'd be a drama critic.”
Edward Albee (1928–2016) American playwright
As quoted in Theater Week (1988); also in The Book of Poisonous Quotes (1993) edited by Colin Jarman, p. 100
“The trade of critic, in literature, music, and the drama, is the most degraded of all trades.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Vol. II, p. 69
Mark Twain's Autobiography (1924)
Ram Dass (1931–2019) American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the 1971 book Be Here Now
Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist
Quotes 1990s, 1990-1994, Noam Chomsky: A Life of Dissent, 1992
Context: I never criticized United States planners for mistakes in Vietnam. True, they made some mistakes, but my criticism was always aimed at what they aimed to do and largely achieved. The Russians doubtless made mistakes in Afghanistan, but my condemnation of their aggression and atrocities never mentioned those mistakes, which are irrelevant to the matter -- though not for the commissars. Within our ideological system, it is impossible to perceive that anyone might criticize anything but "mistakes" (I suspect that totalitarian Russia was more open in that regard).
David Edwards (1962) british journalist, born 1962
Source: Burning All Illusions (1996), p. 6
Robertson Davies book Murther and Walking Spirits
Part 1, section 2.
Murther and Walking Spirits (1991)
James Fenton (1949) poet
Source: An Introduction to English Poetry (2002), Ch. 22: Poetic Drama and Opera (p. 125)