Critic Quotes

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. Theodore Roosevelt

Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it’s done, they’ve seen it done every day, but they’re unable to do it themselves. Brendan Behan

If I had listened to the critics I’d have died drunk in the gutter. Anton Chekhov

Critics have their purposes, and they’re supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with what they think someone should have done, rather than concerning themselves with what they did. Duke Ellington

One gets tired of the role critics are supposed to have in this culture: It’s like being the piano player in a whorehouse; you don’t have any control over the action going on upstairs. Robert Hughes

When critics sit in judgment it is hard to tell where justice leaves off and vengeance begins. Chuck Jones