Michael Dirda Quotes

The people I go after are the false experts, those who do not accept the limits of their knowledge.

Judgment is very easy, but I think, on the whole, professional critics maybe see too much, and compare too much, and forget the joy of actually looking and contemplating for its own sake.

People trust I know what I'm doing. I have lots of credibility. I've had years of learning. I know and understand my business.

Even in my neighborhood, the kids come to me for interviews for their term papers. I ask them later what grades they got, and they're always A-pluses.

If I were less than honest as a critic, I think people would spot that right away, and it would destroy my credibility.

There is not to be found, in all history, any miracle attested by a sufficient number of men, of such unquestioned good sense, education and learning, as to secure us against all delusion in themselves.

We're obviously in a strange environment where practically anyone can set themselves up as a pundit of sorts. It's all about sorting the wheat from the chaff, and I'm very interested in reading different points of view, and certainly different generations than my own that have such a very different world view.

If one knows only what one is told, one does not know enough to be able to arrive at a well-balanced decision.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

I have a credibility on the subject that most people don't.

To be successful in life what you need is education, not literacy and degrees.

No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority.

Every scholar, I presume, is not, necessarily, a man of sense.

Don't believe everything you read.

Distinguishing the signal from the noise requires both scientific knowledge and self-knowledge.

One of the first things we should teach every student is not to believe everything they read and hear.

... men of whom the people have had time to form a judgment, and with respect to whom they will not be liable to be deceived by those brilliant appearances of genius and patriotism, which like transient meteors sometimes mislead as well as dazzle.

If you believe everything you read, better not read.

A healthy skepticism, regularly exercised…

I have learned that it is just as well to avoid even the appearance of something which you prefer not to have published as a fact! So many things are published as facts in any case which have no foundation in them whatsoever, that I don't suppose it really matters! For fair minded people usually wait until they verify a statement before they believe it, and those who believe it without verification are the ones who want to believe it!

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

Don’t believe everything the professors tell you. Get your own information on your own terms.

Talent needs credibility.

Generally speaking, I think one has to take reviews with a grain of salt, unless you know who the person is and what their qualifications are.

I know I'm skilled - I know my background - and the people who are familiar with my credentials know better than to try me.