1797 quotes by critics for you to enjoy

People sometimes think that I bring home all these old books because I'm addicted, that I'm no better than a hoarder with a houseful of crumbling newspapers. Michael Dirda

Home People Better Sometimes Old Think Addicted Books Crumbling Because Than Old Books Newspapers Bring

On any given day, I'm likely to be working at home, hunched over this keyboard, typing Great Thoughts and Beautiful Sentences - or so they seem at the time, like those beautifully flecked and iridescent stones one finds at the seashore that gradually dry into dull gray pebbles. Michael Dirda

Beautiful Time Day Home Great Thoughts Keyboard Typing Those Finds Seem Given Over Like Likely Beautifully Dry Dull Gradually Stones Any Sentences Working Seashore Gray Pebbles

It is a truth universally acknowledged that M. Dirda is a sucker for anything bookish in the way of artwork. Michael Dirda

Truth Way Artwork Anything Acknowledged Sucker Universally

When I come to visit my mom - every two or three months - I generally spend five or six hours with her each day. She's always immensely glad to see me, her eldest child, her only son. Michael Dirda

Day Mom Me Son Three Every Spend Months Immensely Visit See Only Glad Generally Come Hours She Always Five Child Six Eldest Each Each Day Her Two

The only kind of notebook I actively dislike is the steno pad, entirely because of that vertical line down the middle of the page. I presume it has some arcane secretarial use, but to me, it's both ugly and confusing. Michael Dirda

I have never seen John Kerry give anything but an engineered response. Michael Parenti

Seen Response John John Kerry Give Never Anything Engineered Kerry

My mother's family was among the 120,000 people of Japanese descent on the West Coast who were dispatched to internment camps during World War II. Michiko Kakutani

War Family People World Mother Were West West Coast Camps Japanese Coast Who Descent Among Internment World War World War II

President Trump not only lies with astonishing temerity and abandon, but those lies connect into equally false narratives that gin up the worst fears and prejudices of his base. Michiko Kakutani

Fears President President Trump Astonishing Those Worst Abandon Lies Gin Only Equally Narratives His False Trump Up Prejudices Connect Base

The removal of people of Japanese descent from their homes and their incarceration in camps were executed with the same sort of political calculus of fear and bigotry that Mr. Trump is using to redefine American immigration policy. Michiko Kakutani

Indeed, 'The Second Plane' is such a weak, risible, and often objectionable volume that the reader finishes it convinced that Mr. Amis should stick to writing fiction and literary criticism, as he's thoroughly discredited himself with these essays as any sort of political or social commentator. Michiko Kakutani

Writing Political Criticism Indeed Thoroughly Weak Objectionable Finishes Volume He Himself Reader Sort Stick Commentator Essays Any Often Fiction Literary Literary Criticism Social Plane Convinced Should Second

Like many people, I became increasingly alarmed during the 2016 campaign and the first year of the Trump administration by the full-on war being waged on the very idea of truth. Michiko Kakutani

Truth War People First Year Increasingly Administration Idea Like Became Waged Trump Campaign Very Being Full-On Many

One of the things I wanted to do in 'The Death of Truth' was explore some of the larger social and political dynamics that fueled the rise of Trump and brought America to the point where a third of the country will casually shrug off hard facts about everything from the size of inaugural crowds to the crime rate among immigrants. Michiko Kakutani

Death Truth Political Crime Will Country Crime Rate Everything Immigrants One Of The Things Some Brought About Rise Rate Crowds Point Casually Facts Trump Off America Where Size Wanted Dynamics Social Fueled Explore Hard Larger Among Things Third

I find it hard to write in the first person. Michiko Kakutani

First Find Write First-Person Person Hard

Education means teaching kids how to do stuff and how to think about stuff. Education is a pretty simple concept with a very clear way to measure results: you give some kind of an exam - maybe it's one of those standardized tests all kids hate, maybe it's some kind of essay, but whatever it is, it'll measure the results, and the kids will hate it. Mike Gallagher

Education You Hate Simple Will Whatever Think Way Those Kids Kind Some Pretty Exam About Give Results Clear Stuff Concept How Tests Very Essay Maybe Means Measure Teaching Standardized

'Out of many, one' is the national motto, and what the Founders imagined it meant is that out of the great and celebrated differences between us comes one nation and one larger purpose. Mike Gallagher

Great Nation National Differences Out One Nation Purpose Between Motto Celebrated Us Meant Many Larger Founders Imagined

For people who never tire of telling the world what a moral high ground they've taken in opposing Donald Trump, they sure don't seem to mind offering up a bellyful of gloats and taunts. Mike Gallagher

Quotes by Critics