A Quote by William Arthur Ward

A pinch of praise is worth a pound of scorn. A dash of encouragement is more helpful than a dipper of pessimism. A cup of kindness is better than a cupboard of criticism.

William Arthur Ward

Quote Topics

Better Criticism Cup Cupboard Dash Encouragement Helpful Kindness More Pessimism Pinch Pound Praise Scorn Than Worth

Quote Author

William Arthur Ward
American - Writer
1921 - 1994

In one's relationship with dogs and with a newsroom, a generous amount of praise and encouragement goes much better than criticism.

Jill Abramson

Doth perfect beauty stand in need of praise at all? Nay; no more than law, no more than truth, no more than loving kindness, nor than modesty.

Marcus Aurelius

A pinch of probability is worth a pound of perhaps.

James Thurber

I suppose the thing I most would have liked to have known or been reassured about is that in the world, what counts more than talent, what counts more than energy or concentration or commitment, or anything else - is kindness. And the more in the world that you encounter kindness and cheerfulness - which is its kind of amiable uncle or aunt - the better the world always is. And all the big words: virtue, justice, truth - are dwarfed by the greatness of kindness.

Stephen Fry

If put to the pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.

Elbert Hubbard

But how much better, in any case, to wonder than not to wonder, to dance with astonishment and go spinning in praise, than not to know enough to dance or praise at all; to be blessed with more imagination than you might know at the given moment what to do with than to be cursed with too little to give you -- and other people -- any trouble.

Eudora Welty

Taking an interest in what others are thinking and doing is often a much more powerful form of encouragement than praise.

Robert Martin

An ounce of performance is worth more than a pound of preachment.

Elbert Hubbard

Praise without merit is more harmful than unearned criticism.

Roger Ebert

We must learn that competence is better than extravagance, that worth is better than wealth, that the golden calf we have worshiped has no more brains than that one of old which the Hebrews worshiped. So beware of money and of money's worth as the supreme passion of the mind. Beware of the craving for enormous acquisition.

C. A. Bartol

There is no scorn more profound, or on the whole more justifiable, than that of the men who make for the men who explain. Exposition, criticism, appreciation, is work for second-rate minds.

G. H. Hardy

An ounce of help is worth more than a pound of pity any day.

Louise Jordan Miln

Frying gives cooks numerous ways of concealing what appeared the day before and in a pinch facilitates sudden demands, for it takes little more time to fry a four-pound carp than to boil an egg.

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

It's just as important - if not more important - to take the praise with a pinch of salt, just as you do the criticism.

Shura

A pretty girl is better than a plain one. A leg is better than an arm. A bedroom is better than a living room. An arrival is better that a departure. A birth is better than a death. A chase is better than a chat. A dog is better than a landscape. A kitten is better than a dog. A baby is better than a kitten. A kiss is better than a baby. A pratfall is better than anything.