Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
The job of the critic is to report to us his moods.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Critics express their personal views and emotions rather than objective truths about art.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde suggests that a critic's role is inherently subjective; their reviews and opinions reflect their own emotions and experiences rather than an absolute assessment of the artwork. This highlights the importance of individual perspective in the interpretation of art, underscoring that different critics may have vastly different reactions to the same piece based on their personal moods and contexts.
Themes
CriticArtSubjectivityEmotionsPerspective
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about art reviews, one might say, 'As Oscar Wilde pointed out, the job of the critic is to report his moods.'
More from Oscar Wilde
All quotes βLondon is too full of fogs and serious people. Whether the fogs produce the serious people, or whether the serious people produce the fogs, I don't know.
Oscar WildeRead
When one has never heard a man's name in the course of one's life, it speaks volumes for him; he must be quite respectable.
Oscar WildeRead
Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.
Oscar WildeRead
A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
Oscar WildeRead
His morality is all sympathy, just what morality should be
Oscar WildeRead
Similar quotes
I'm wallowing in the whole idea of just being a guy out there with a band, with songs. It's a real enjoyment.
David BowieRead
Poetry has been to me its own exceeding great reward; it has given me the habit of wishing to discover the good and beautiful in all that meets and surrounds me.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead
In television, the 60-minute series, 'The Wire' and 'Mad Men' and so on, the writer is the primary creative artist.
Salman RushdieRead
Faulkner is a writer who has had much to do with my soul, but Hemingway is the one who had the most to do with my craft - not simply for his books, but for his astounding knowledge of the aspect of craftsmanship in the science of writing.
Gabriel Garcia MarquezRead
Good poetry and successful revolution change our lives. And you cannot compose a good poem or wage a revolution without changing consciousness unless you attack the language that you share with your enemies and invent a language that you share with your allies.
June JordanRead
Instead of singing in the shower, I would write out the lyrics of my favourite songs, the ink would turn the water blue or red or green, and the music would run down my legs.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead