Oscar Wilde Quotes About Criticism

• The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.

  Oscar Wilde

  Artist, Criticism, Critics

  Oscar Wilde (2007). “Epigrams of Oscar Wilde”, p.176, Wordsworth Editions

• When critics disagree the artist is in accord with himself.

  Oscar Wilde

  Artist, Criticism, Beneath The Surface

  Oscar Wilde (2012). “The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde”, p.175, Courier Corporation

• On an occasion of this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one's mind. It becomes a pleasure.

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Mind, Criticism

  'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1895) act 2

• The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.

  Oscar Wilde

  Book, Reading, Writing

• The true critic is he who bears within himself the dreams and ideas and feelings of myriad generations, and to whom no form of thought is alien, no emotional impulse obscure.

  Oscar Wilde

  Dream, Emotional, Ideas

  Oscar Wilde, General Press (2016). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays”, p.690, GENERAL PRESS

• That is what the highest criticism really is, the record of one's own soul. It is more fascinating than history, as it is concerned simply with oneself. It is more delightful than philosophy, as its subject is concrete and not abstract, real and not vague. It is the only civilized form of autobiography.

  Oscar Wilde

  Philosophy, Real, Soul

  Oscar Wilde (1969). “The Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde”, p.365, University of Chicago Press

• Temperament is the primary requisite for the critic - a temperament exquisitely susceptible to beauty, and to the various impressions that beauty gives us.

  Oscar Wilde

  Art, Giving, Criticism

  Oscar Wilde (2015). “The critic as artist (low cost). Limited edition”, p.69, Oscar Wilde

• In one dancing saloon I saw the only rational method of art criticism I have ever come across. Over the piano was printed a notice: 'Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best.'

  Oscar Wilde

  Art, Piano, America

  Oscar Wilde, Matthew Hofer, Gary Scharnhorst (2010). “Oscar Wilde in America: The Interviews”, p.180, University of Illinois Press

• All criticism is a form of autobiography

  Oscar Wilde

  Criticism, Form, Autobiography

• Artists reproduce themselves or each other, with wearisome iteration. But criticism is always moving on, and the critic is always developing.

  Oscar Wilde

  Moving, Artist, Criticism

  Oscar Wilde (1969). “The Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde”, p.390, University of Chicago Press

• No publisher should ever express an opinion on the value of what he publishes. That is a matter entirely for the literary critic to decide. I can quite understand how any ordinary critic would be strongly prejudiced against a work that was accompanied by a premature and unnecessary panegyric from the publisher. A publisher is simply a useful middle-man. It is not for him to anticipate the verdict of criticism.

  Oscar Wilde

  Book, Men, Criticism

• Imagination is imitative-the real innovation lies in criticism.

  Oscar Wilde

  Real, Lying, Imagination

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