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.
“The worst of doing one's duty was that it apparently unfitted one for doing anything else.”
Source: The Age of Innocence (1920), Ch. 34
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Edith Wharton 103
American novelist, short story writer, designer 1862–1937Related quotes
“Do for yourself, for no one else will.”
Source: A Heart So Wild
“It is amazing how well the worst ones think of themselves, and how little the best ones do.”
Source: Titans of Chaos (2007), Chapter 22, “The Bubble Bath” (p. 300)
Zen Masters : The Wisdom of Frank Zappa (2003)
“To do one's duty every day and trust in God for tomorrow.”
Faire son devoir tous les jours et se fier à Dieu, pour le lendemain.
Journaux intimes (1864–1867; published 1887), Mon cœur mis à nu (1864)
“Anything that is moral for a group to do is moral for one person to do.”
There must be a flaw in that, since I’ve always been taught that it is wrong to take the law in your own hands. But I can’t find the flaw and it sounds axiomatic, self-evident. Switch it around. If something is wrong for one person to do, can it possibly be made right by having a lot of people (a government) agree to do it together? Even unanimously?
If anything is wrong, it is wrong—and vox populi can’t change it.
Source: Podkayne of Mars (1963), Chapter 13 (p. 169)