Carl von Clausewitz Quotes

The duty of criticism is neither to depreciate nor dignify by partial representations, but to hold out the light of reason, whatever it may discover; and to promulgate the determinations of truth, whatever she shall dictate

We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, not as they are said to be.

Attempting to get at truth means rejecting stereotypes and cliches.

I think what's always important is not to be contrarian for its own sake but to really get at the truth.

Truth is a good dog; but always beware of barking too close to the heels of an error, lest you get your brains kicked out.

It's terribly important that you can criticise people's ideas without criticising them, and if they burst into tears, it means that you tend to hold back from getting at the absolute truth.

If we bring not the good courage of minds covetous of truth, and truth only, prepared to hear all things, and decide upon all things, according to evidence, we should do more wisely to sit down contented in ignorance, than to bestir ourselves only to reap disappointment.

It is necessary to judge accurately the things that rest on opinion

How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct

Every man should have a built-in automatic crap detector operating inside him.

You have to accept the criticism but you also have to consider how much of what is said and written is actually true.

Who begins with severity, in judging of another, ends commonly with falsehood.

It's always easy to judge from afar

The man of authentic self-confidence is the man who relies on the judgment of his own mind. Such a man is not malleable; he may be mistaken, he may be fooled in a given instance, but he is inflexible in regard to the absolutism of reality, i.e., in seeking and demanding truth.

Logic helps us to strip off the outward disguise of things, and to behold and judge of them in their own nature.

Great critics, of whom there are piteously few, build a home for the truth.

Hear Everything and judge for yourself

A critic is a necessary evil, and criticism is an evil necessity.

You must first of all think justly. Don’t sit in judgment over others when you don’t know the truth of the matter.

The popular distinction between 'constructive' and 'destructive' criticism is a sentimentality: the mind too weak to perceive in what respects the bad fails is not strong enough to appreciate in what the good succeeds. To be without discrimination is to be unable to praise. The critic who lets you know that he always looks for something to like in works he discusses is not telling you anything about the works or about art; he is saying 'see what a nice person I am.

To substitute judgments of fact for judgments of value is a sign of pedantic and borrowed criticism.

Learn to be as analytical about things of which you are credulous as you are of those which you criticise.

I think the problem with polemics is that it's general and it's lazy. When you say, "This is bad," that's a general thing. We're more interested in asking the question.

If you want to assert a truth, first make sure it's not just an opinion that you desperately want to be true.

Do not be influenced by the importance of the writer, and whether his learning be great or small, but let the love of pure truth draw you to read. Do not inquire, Who said this? but pay attention to what is said.