No two men ever judged alike of the same thing, and it is impossible to find two opinions exactly similar, not only in different men but in the same men at different times.  ~Michel Montaigne


A critic can only review the book he has read, not the one which the writer wrote.  ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960


As soon
Seek roses in December, ice in June;
Hope constancy in wind, or corn in chaff;
Believe a woman or an epitaph,
Or any other thing that's false, before
You trust in critics.
~George Gordon, Lord Byron, "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers"


Critics can't even make music by rubbing their back legs together.  ~Mel Brooks

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.  ~John Osborne, Time, 31 October 1977


Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work.  Note just what it is about your work that critics don't like - then cultivate it.  That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping.  ~Jean Cocteau


Pay no attention to what the critics say.  A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.  ~Jean Sibelius

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