“The number of those who undergo the fatigue of judging for themselves is very small indeed.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Act I, sc. ii.
Source: The Critic (1779)
Quotes from workThe Critic
The Critic: or, a Tragedy Rehearsed is a satire by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first staged at Drury Lane Theatre in 1779. It is a burlesque on stage acting and play production conventions, and Sheridan considered the first act to be his finest piece of writing. One of its major roles, Sir Fretful Plagiary, is a comment on the vanity of authors, and in particular a caricature of the dramatist Richard Cumberland who was a contemporary of Sheridan.
“Sheer necessity,—the proper parent of an art so nearly allied to invention.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Act I, sc. ii.
The Critic (1779)
“There is not a passion so strongly rooted in the human heart as envy.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Act I, sc. i.
The Critic (1779)
“The Spanish fleet thou canst not see, because—it is not yet in sight!”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Act II, sc. ii.
The Critic (1779)
“Where they do agree on the stage, their unanimity is wonderful.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Act II, sc. ii.
The Critic (1779)
“Certainly nothing is unnatural that is not physically impossible.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Act II, sc. i.
The Critic (1779)
“A practitioner in panegyric, or, to speak more plainly, a professor of the art of puffing.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Act I, sc. ii.
The Critic (1779)
“No scandal about Queen Elizabeth, I hope?”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Act II, sc. i.
The Critic (1779)
“Egad, I think the interpreter is the hardest to be understood of the two!”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Act I, sc. ii.
The Critic (1779)
“An oyster may be crossed in love.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Clio's Protest (1819).
The Critic (1779)
“I wish, sir, you would practice this without me. I can't stay dying here all night.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Act III, sc. i.
The Critic (1779)
“Inconsolable to the minuet in Ariadne.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Act II, sc. ii.
The Critic (1779)
