Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
Give a critic an inch, he'll write a play.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote humorously suggests that critics are prone to exaggeration or overreach in their assessments.
John Steinbeck's quote humorously highlights how critics can take minor criticisms or comments and expand them into something larger or more dramatic, like creating a whole play. It reflects the tendency of some critics to overinterpret or blow things out of proportion, often leading to unexpected results that were not intended.
Themes
CriticismPlaywritingHumorExaggerationTheater
In practice
Example use cases
During a talk about theater, one might say this quote to lighten the mood on the role of critics.
More from John Steinbeck
All quotes βAt one point, as Samuel urges Adam to raise his boys well regardless of the blood that might be in them, Adam tells him, "You can't make a race horse of a pig." Samuel replies, "No, but you can make a very fast pig.
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And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses.
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The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.
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People do not want advice - they want corroboration.
John SteinbeckRead
It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
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