Brendan Behan Quotes

Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it's done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.

My mother didn't raise me to be a critic, but I seem to have become one anyway.

I don't believe that anyone is not bothered by critics. I think that everybody cares.

Now everyone is a critic.

The critic is a man who prefers the indolence of opinion to the trials of action.

Everybody wants to be a critic: a critic without the actual accolades to be a critic.

Some of the most vocal critics of the way things are being done are people who have done nothing themselves, and whose only contributions to society are their complaints and moral exhibitionism.

We all have known good critics, who have stamped out poet's hopes; Good statesmen, who pulled ruin on the state; Good patriots, who, for a theory, risked a cause; Good kings, who disemboweled for a tax; Good Popes, who brought all good to jeopardy; Good Christians, who sat still in easy-chairs; And damned the general world for standing up. Now, may the good God pardon all good men!

The man who acts the least, upbraids the most.

Critics are like brushers of noblemen's clothes.

The creator gives no heed to the critic unless he becomes a barren inventor.

Those who do not think about their own sins make up for it by thinking incessantly about the sins of others.

Because even if they are doing something immoral, I'd be an idiot to start criticizing them for it if I wasn't perfect myself. Smoking is self-destructive. Drinking is self-destructive. Losing your temper and yelling at people is wrong. Lying is wrong. Cheating is wrong. Stealing is wrong. But people do that stuff all the time. Soon as I figure out how to be a perfect human being, then I'm qualified to go lecture other people about how they live their lives.

Old Khayyám, say you, is a debauchee;If only you were half so good as he!He sins no sins but gentle drunkenness,Great-hearted mirth, and kind adultery.But yours the cold heart, and the murderous tongue,The wintry soul that hates to hear a song,The close-shut fist, the mean and measuring eye,And all the little poisoned ways of wrong.

Let me tell you humans something. You are not fighters. You don’t have what it takes to actually change your current living situations. You can’t even organize a decent group to combat oppression. How can beings of such low stature hope to do anything? You are not heroes. Stop pretending you are helping by playing commando and get out of the way of someone who can.

Apathy is the self-defense of the powerless.

We hate to have some people give us advice because we know how badly they need it themselves.

Those readiest to criticise are often least able to appreciate.

A "critic" is a man who creates nothing.

People want to give advice but can't take it themselves.

CAVILER, n. A critic of our own work.

There's one thing that always interests me about you good people, not your certainty that the rest of us are swine, - no doubt we are, - but your certainty that your opinions are pearls.

The worst advice? 'Don't listen to the critics.' I think that you really ought to listen to the critics, because sometimes they're telling you something is broken that you can fix.

Inconsistent professing Christians injure the Gospel more than the sneering critic or the heretic.

Such as are still observing upon others are like those who are always abroad at other men's houses, reforming everything there while their own runs to ruin.