Criticism should be a casual conversation.

On an occasion of this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one's mind. It becomes a pleasure.

Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at very small expense. He whom nature has made weak, and idleness keeps ignorant, may yet support his vanity by the name of a critic.

He cannot be strict in judging, who does not wish others to be strict judges of himself.

If I care to listen to every criticism, let alone act on them, then this shop may as well be closed for all other businesses. I have learned to do my best, and if the end result is good then I do not care for any criticism, but if the end result is not good, then even the praise of ten angels would not make the difference.

We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.

The pleasure we feel in criticizing robs us from being moved by very beautiful things.

The critical opinions of a writer should always be taken with a large grain of salt. For the most part, they are manifestations of his debate with himself as to what he should do next and what he should avoid.

The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.

In reality, the world have paid too great a compliment to critics, and have imagined them men of much greater profundity than they really are.