“Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you've got a pretty neck.” -Eli Wallach
“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
“Critics are like pigs at the pastry cart.” –John Updike
“Pay no attention to what the critics say... Remember, a statue has never been set up in honour of a critic!” -Jean Sibelius
“The world has paid too great a compliment to critics, and imagined them to be men of much greater profundity than they really are.” -Henry Fielding
“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs.” –Christopher Hampton
“Critics search for ages for the wrong word, which, to give them credit, they eventually find.” –Peter Ustinov
“I never read a book before reviewing it - it prejudices a man so” –Sydney Smith
Good quotes! Love the lamppost one.
ReplyDeleteLately a bunch of us were talking about whether authors should read any of their reviews at all. I'm on the fence. I think they shouldn't reply because nothing good seems to come from that. What do you think?
I read all my reviews and learn from them, especially in terms of what they like, so I can do it again in the next book.
ReplyDeleteBut I would NEVER respond to one unless it had a factual error.