Censure Quotes - Page 2

• We censure others but as they disagree from that humor which we fancy laudable in ourselves, and commend others but for that wherein they seem to quadrate and consent with us.

  Thomas Browne

  Fancy, Consent, Seems

  Sir Thomas Browne, James Thomas Fields (1862). “Religio Medici: A Letter to a Friend, Christian Morals, Urn-burial, and Other Papers”, p.126

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• If there was the same propensity in mankind for investigating the motives, as there is for censuring the conduct, of public characters, it would be found that the censure so freely bestowed is oftentimes unmerited and uncharitable.

  George Washington

  Character, Would Be, Found

  George Washington, Jared Sparks (1839). “The Writings of George Washington: pt. IV. Letters official and private, from the beginning of his presidency to the end of his life: (v. 10) May, 1789-November, 1794. (v. 11) November, 1794-December, 1799”, p.97

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• Mankind are very odd creatures:
  one half censure what they practice,
  the other half practice what they censure;
  the rest always say and do as they ought.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Practice, Half, Odd

  Benjamin Franklin (2007). “Poor Richard's Almanack”, p.61, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• If Congress were to censure, fine or otherwise try to punish a president, it would dramatically alter the balance of power between the branches.

  Mike DeWine

  Balance, Trying, President

  "Could Clinton escape censure, too?". www.cnn.com. December 31, 1998.

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• Against Him those women sin who torment their skin with potions, stain their cheeks with rouge and extend the line of their eyes with black coloring. Doubtless they are dissatisfied with God's plastic skill. In their own persons they convict and censure the Artificer of all things.

  Tertullian

  Beauty, Eye, Carpe Diem

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• Perhaps there will be prattlers who, although completely ignorant of mathematics, nevertheless take it upon themselves to pass judgment on mathematical questions, and on account of some passage in Scripture, badly distorted to their purpose, will dare to censure and assail what I have presented here.

  Nicolaus Copernicus

  God, Faith, Hope

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• All censure of a man's self is oblique praise. It is in order to show how much he can spare.

  Samuel Johnson

  Men, Self, Order

  Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 25 Apr. 1778)

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• Censure is like the lightning which strikes the highest mountains.

  Baltasar Gracian

  Mountain, Lightning, Strikes

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• All the satires of the stage should be viewed without discomfort. They are public mirrors, where we are never to admit that we seeourselves; one admits to a fault when one is scandalized by its censure.

  Moliere

  Mirrors, Faults, Satire

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• Jesus Christ has undertaken by His redemption to put in me a heart so pure that God can see nothing to censure.

  Oswald Chambers

  Jesus, Heart, Redemption

  Oswald Chambers (2016). “Studies in the Sermon on the Mount”, p.18, Gideon House Books

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• But you go to a great school, not for knowledge so much as for arts and habits; for the habit of attention, for the art of expression, for the art of assuming at a moment's notice a new intellectual posture, for the art of entering quickly into another person's thoughts, for the habit of submitting to censure and refutation, for the art of indicating assent or dissent in graduated terms, for the habit of regarding minute points of accuracy, for the habit of working out what is possible in a given time, for taste, for discrimination, for mental courage and mental soberness.

  William Johnson Cory

  Art, School, Expression

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• In their censures of luxury the fathers are extremely minute and circumstantial; and among the various articles which excite their pious indignation, we may enumerate false hair, garments of any colour except white, instruments of music, vases of gold or silver, downy pillows, white bread, foreign wines, public salutations, the use of warm baths, and the practice of shaving the beard, which, according to Tertullian, is a lie against our own faces, and am impious attempt to improve the works of the Creator.

  Edward Gibbon

  Lying, Father, Wine

  Edward Gibbon (1854). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.44

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• [Someone] said that what I described as the Buddhist voice - the life-denying voice of censure and guilt - sounded to him very much like a Catholic voice. This is, indeed, a mystery, and it intrigues me, too.

  Quentin S. Crisp

  Buddhist, Voice, Catholic

  Source: www.teemingbrain.com

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• I have a work presently in the Press named 'Six Months in Hell' which you may one day read. I consider it will be worth perusing, bruising badly the morals of Britain and America, while Royalty, clergy, critics, society and bloodhounds of law must all incur its censure.

  Amanda McKittrick Ros

  America, Law, One Day

  Amanda McKittrick Ros, Frank Ormsby (1988). “Thine in storm and calm: an Amanda McKittrick Ros reader”, Blackstaff Pr

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• Speak not in high commendation of any man to his face, nor censure any man behind his back; but if thou knowest anything good of him, tell it unto others; if anything ill, tell it privately and prudently to himself.

  William Burkitt

  Men, Faces, Speak

  William Burkitt (1840). “The poor man's help, and young man's guide”, p.13

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• USA belongs to a handful of men who also control the media. Look at General Electric. It produces nuclear weapons for the Pentagon and also owns the NBC News cable channel, which is a very sophisticated censure apparatus, intrinsic to the system. It's genius. It's like an electronic cage around the nation which blocks information from getting through.

  Gore Vidal

  Block, Men, Nbc News

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• Slander, in the strict meaning of the term, comes under the head of lying; but it is a kind of lying which, like its antithesis flattery, ought to be set apart for special censure.

  Washington Gladden

  Lying, Special, Flattery

  Washington Gladden (1883). “Things New and Old in Discourses of Christian Truth and Life”

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• Self-love makes us deceive ourselves in almost all matters, to censure others, and to blame them for the same faults that we do not correct in ourselves; we do this either because we are unaware of the evil that exists within us, or because we always see our own evil disguised as a good.

  Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable

  Love, Self, Evil

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• The stage I chose--a subject fair and free--
  'Tis yours--'tis mine--'tis public property.
  All common exhibitions open lie,
  For praise or censure, to the common eye.
  Hence are a thousand hackney writers fed;
  Hence monthly critics earn their daily bread.
  This is a general tax which all must pay,
  From those who scribble, down to those who play.

  Charles Churchill

  Lying, Eye, Play

  Charles Churchill, George Gilfillan (1855). “The poetical works of Charles Churchill: with memoir, critical dissertation, and explanatory notes / by the Rev. George Gilfillan”, p.43

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• The moral I draw is that the writer should seek his reward in the pleasure of his work and in release from the burden of thought; and, indifferent to aught else, care nothing for praise or censure, failure or success.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Care, Rewards, Moral

  W. Somerset Maugham (2012). “The Moon and Sixpence”, p.6, Courier Corporation

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• We all cry out that the world is corrupt,--and I fear too justly,--but we never reflect, what we have to thank for it, and that itis our open countenance of vice, which gives the lye to our private censures of it, which is its chief protection and encouragement.

  Laurence Sterne

  Encouragement, Giving, Hypocrisy

  Laurence Sterne (1873). “The Works of Laurence Sterne ...: With a Life of the Author”, p.130, London : Bickers, H. Sotheran

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• I used to wonder why people should be so fond of the company of their physician, till I recollected that he is the only person with whom one dares to talk continually of oneself, without interruption, contradiction or censure; I suppose that delightful immunity doubles their fees.

  Hannah More

  People, Physicians, Wonder

  William Roberts, Hannah More (1835). “Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs. Hannah More”, p.317

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• Unkind people spread malicious tales, and well-intentioned people also censure; but in either case the tranquil sage remains unconcerned. Nowhere is there to be found a disconcerted sage.

  Gautama Buddha

  People, Sage, Found

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• Julian was not insensible of the advantages of freedom. From his studies he had imbibed the spirit of ancient sages and heroes; his life and fortunes had depended on the caprice of a tyrant; and, when he ascended the throne, his pride was sometimes mortified by the reflection that the slaves who would not dare to censure his defects were not worthy to applaud his virtues.

  Edward Gibbon

  Hero, Pride, Reflection

  Edward Gibbon (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)”, p.965, Delphi Classics

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• Few are sufficiently wise to prefer censure which is useful to praise which is treacherous.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Wise, Praise, Treacherous

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