Irresponsibility is part of the pleasure of all art; it is the part the schools cannot recognize.

In the arts, the critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising.

The critical task is necessarily comparative, and younger people do not truly know what is new

We read critics for the perceptions, for what they tell us that we didn't fully grasp when we saw the work. The judgments we can usually make for ourselves.

a steady diet of mass culture is a form of deprivation.

Really, it's not people who don't understand us who drive us nuts—it's when those who shouldn't, do.

A good movie can take you out of your dull funk and the hopelessness that so often goes with slipping into a theatre; a good movie can make you feel alive again, in contact, not just lost in another city. Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again.