1. A negative judgment gives you more satisfaction than praise, providing it smacks of jealousy.
Jean Baudrillard (b.1929) French philosopher. Cool Memories (1987)
2. No man can tell another his faults so as to benefit him, unless he loves him.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-87) U.S. clergyman and reformer. Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit (1887)
3. Everything you reprove in another, you must carefully avoid in yourself.
Cicero (106-43 B.C.) Roman orator and statesman. In Verrem (1st century B.C.), no. 2
4. Why is it so necessary to sneer at people who are successful? I still take it all very personally. I often ask myself why do I go on.
Terence Conran (b.1931) British business executive, retailer, and founder of Habitat. Daily Express (London) (October 5, 1981)
5. We are tough and brave in war. We are soft and compromising in business.
Michael Owen Edwards (b.1930) British company executive. Referring to British managers. Speech, Institute of Personnel Management Annual Conference (October 27, 1984)
6. Praise should always be given in public, criticism should always be given private.
- Paul Getty (1892-1976) U.S. entrepreneur, oil industry executive, and financier. How to Be Rich (1965)
7. Criticism is one of the most important tasks a manager has.
Daniel Goleman (b.1946) U.S. behavioral scientist, journalist, and author. Emotional Intelligence (1996)
8. Cheers hearten a man. But jeers are just as essential. They help maintain his sense of balance and proportion.
Jay E. House (1870-1936) U.S. journalist and columnist. “On Second Thoughts,” On Second Thoughts (1936)
9. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables.
Samuel Johnson (1709-84) British poet, lexicographer, essayist, and critic. June 15, 1763. Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson (James Boswell; 1791)
10. Critical remarks are only made by people who love you.
Federico Mayor (b.1934) Spanish politician and former director-general of UNESCO. Quoted in Guardian (London) (June 24, 1988)
11. Next to the joy of the egoist is the joy of the detractor.
Agnes Repplier (1858-1950) U.S. writer and historian. “Writing an Autobiography,” Under Dispute (1924)
12. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) U.S. reformer, author, and first lady. This Is My Story (1937)
13. fashion is merely the lowest form of ideology.
John Ralston Saul (b.1947) Canadian writer. The Unconscious Civilization (1995)
14. A free society where it is safe to be unpopular.
Adlai E. Stevenson (1900-65) U.S. statesman and author. Speech (October 1952)
15. I can’t tell you the number of times that I meet with Internet entrepreneurs or executives, and how little theory they have, and how little cognitive behavior they seem to exhibit about what it is they’re doing.
Jay S. Walker, U.S. entrepreneur, founder of Priceline.com and C.E.O. of Walker Digital Corporation. Interview, Strategy + Business (April-June 2000)
