A Quote by Christian Nestell Bovee

The legitimate aim of criticism is to direct attention to the excellent. The bad will dig its own grave.

Christian Nestell Bovee

Quote Topics

Aim Attention Bad Criticism Dig Direct Excellent Grave Legitimate Own Will

Quote Author

Christian Nestell Bovee
American - Author
February 22, 1820 - January 18, 1904

The legitimate aim of criticism is to direct attention to the excellent. The bad will dig its own grave, and the imperfect may safely be left to that final neglect from which no amount of present undeserved popularity can rescue it.

Christian Nestell Bovee

Though Israel may often be deserving of criticism, what is missing is the comparable criticism of equal or greater violations by other countries and other groups. This constant, often legitimate criticism of Israel for every one of its deviations, when coupled with the absence of legitimate criticism of others, creates the impression currently prevalent on university campuses and in the press that Israel is among the worst human rights violators in the world....it is not true, but if it is repeated often enough, it takes on a reality of its own.

Alan Dershowitz

Any criticism, you should pay attention to. Whether you accept it and change or you take it and move on is the choice, but criticism is not a bad thing.

Bozoma Saint John

I think the aim - and certainly the aim of what I've tried to do since leaving - is not political and certainly not a witch hunt at individuals. It's to try to direct our attention at what I believe is a fundamental fault analysis that we must now examine.

David Kay

Self-restraint may be alien to the human temperament, but humanity without restraint will dig its own grave.

Marya Mannes

To say what you feel is to dig your own grave.

Sinead O'Connor

Accept criticism. If you do not offer your work for criticism and accept that criticism, meaning give it serious thought and attention, then you will never improve.

Theodora Goss

We shall dig our own grave if we do not purge ourselves of this curse of untouchability.

Mahatma Gandhi

Maybe it's legitimate criticism, though it can be hurtful. Maybe I haven't paid sufficient attention to the people with whom I would have a natural affinity as a liberal, and they feel let down by that.

Paddy Ashdown

Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, And I lay me down with a will. This be the verse you grave for me: Here he lies where he longed to be: Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Criticism at the wrong time, even if it's legitimate criticism, can be seriously damaging and make the writer lose faith in what he's doing. It's the timing that's all-important.

Donna Tartt

I don't have a very high opinion, actually, of the world of criticism - or the practice of criticism. I think I admire art criticism, criticism of painting and sculpture, far more than I do that of say films and books, literary or film criticism. But I don't much like the practice. I think there are an awful lot of bad people in it.

Tom Robbins

Aim high, but do not aim so high that you totally miss the target. What really matters is that he will love you, that he will respect you, that he will honor you, that he will be absolutely true to you, that he will give you the freedom of expression and let you fly in the development of your own talents. He is not going to be perfect, but if he is kind and thoughtful, if he knows how to work and earn a living, if he is honest and full of faith, the chances are you will not go wrong, that you will be immensely happy.

Gordon B. Hinckley

With a lot of attention comes criticism, but I'll take that. I'm reaching all the goals I've set for myself, so you can't say anything bad about that.