“Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing” -- Aristotle

 

* I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. -- James A. Baldwin

* “I am an American. I love my country and have great hopes for it. It is for this reason that I speak candidly and sometimes critically about it. I have benefited greatly from the freedom that exists in my country and for this I am eternally grateful.” -- Johnny Depp

Just let me go, we have to be able to criticize what we love, to say what we have to say 'cause if you're not trying to make something better, then as far as I can tell, you are just in the way. -- Ani DiFranco

* "...don't criticize what you can't understand, your sons and your daughters are beyond your command." -- Bob Dylan

“The individual must not merely wait and criticize, he must defend the cause the best he can. The fate of the world will be such as the world deserves.” -- Albert Einstein

“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If your heart acquires strength, you will be able to remove blemishes from others without thinking evil of them. -- Mohandas K. Gandhi

I look for what's of value and extract that. I don't look to criticize. -- Herbie Hancock

 

What we need are critical lovers of America - patriots who express their faith in their country by working to improve it. -- Hubert Humphrey

“I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of much praise.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

* We teach academic subjects and we assume life skills will somehow be acquired along the way. Not a safe assumption! The curriculum has to include things like communication, conflict resolution, parenting, family dynamics, critical thinking, values, ethics. -- Azim Khamisa

"I criticize America because I love her. I want her to stand as a moral example to the world." -- Martin Luther King, Jr

“He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.” -- Abraham Lincoln

Children Learn What They Live - If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn. If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight. If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy. If a child learns to feel shame, he learns to feel guilty. If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient. If a child lives with encouragement he learns confidence If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate. He a child lives with fairness, he learns justice. If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith. If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself. If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world. -- Dorothy Law Neite The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism. - Norman Vincent Peale “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you. Love me and I may be forced to love you.” - Norman Vincent Peale

Boredom, after all, is a form of criticism. -- Wendell Phillips

Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. -- Eleanor Roosevelt

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. -- Theodore Roosevelt

Analyses of others are actually expressions of our own needs and values. -- Marshall Rosenberg

Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves. -- Bertrand Russell

“It's better to light a candle then to curse the darkness.” -- Carl Sagan One of the criteria for national leadership should therefore be a talent for understanding, encouraging, and making constructive use of vigorous criticism. -- Carl Sagan

If we are bold enough to point out problems, we must be brave enough to try to solve them. -- Robert Alan Silverstein

Every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration. Constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought. -- Margaret Chase Smith Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism, are all too frequently those who . . . ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism—the right to criticize, the right to hold unpopular beliefs, the right to protest, the right of independent thought. -- Margaret Chase Smith

My opinions and principles are subjects of just criticism. -- Victoria Woodhull