--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The trouble with today's snarky…" description: "\"“The trouble with today's snarky pipsqueaks who break off a sentence or two, or who write a couple of mean paragraphs, is that they don't go far enough..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45b/david-denby-29140_criticism_the-trouble-with-today-s-snarky-pipsquea_2262946.jpg" --- # The trouble with today's snarky pipsqueaks who break off a… ![“The trouble with today's snarky pipsqueaks who break off a sentence or two, or who write a couple of mean paragraphs, is that they don't go far enough; they don't have a coherent view of life. Spinning around in the media from moment to moment, they don't stand for anything, push for anything…” quote by David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45b/david-denby-29140_criticism_the-trouble-with-today-s-snarky-pipsquea_2262946.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45b/david-denby-29140_criticism_the-trouble-with-today-s-snarky-pipsquea_2262946.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45b/david-denby-29140_criticism_the-trouble-with-today-s-snarky-pipsquea_2262946.jpg) > ““The trouble with today's snarky pipsqueaks who break off a sentence or two, or who write a couple of mean paragraphs, is that they don't go far enough; they don't have a coherent view of life. Spinning around in the media from moment to moment, they don't stand for anything, push for anything; they're mere opportunists without dedication, and they don't win any victories.”” [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Snarky commentators lack depth and consistent values, jumping between topics without commitment, making them ineffective and opportunistic. **In simple terms:** They lack depth and consistent values. Key Takeaway Seek depth and consistent principles. Themes media criticism integrity commitment opportunism Mood critical analytical Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - journalism - online discourse - political commentary Key Concepts critical thinking media literacy Questions to Reflect On - What values should guide your commentary? - How can you avoid opportunism? A Different Perspective Depth requires sustained effort and may limit quick relevance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism/) [Journalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journalism/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Mean Paragraphs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean-paragraphs-5214437/) [Mere Opportunists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mere-opportunists-5214440/) [Paragraphs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paragraphs/) [Pipsqueaks Break](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pipsqueaks-break-5214439/) [Snark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/snark/) [Sociology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sociology/) [Spinning around](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spinning-around/) [Today Snarky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/today-snarky-5214438/) [View of life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/view-of-life/) ## Related quotes > [It's always the paragraphs I loved most, the ones I tenderly polished and re-read with pride, that my editor will suggest cutting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liane-moriarty/it-s-always-the-paragraphs-i-loved-most-the-ones-i-tenderly-polished/) [Liane Moriarty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liane-moriarty/) > [“Short paragraphs that read like photographs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marisa-reichardt/short-paragraphs-that-read-like-photographs/) [Marisa Reichardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marisa-reichardt/) > [Books don't change people; paragraphs do, Sometimes even sentences.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-piper/books-don-t-change-people-paragraphs-do-sometimes-even-sentences/) [John Piper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-piper/) > [A readers eyes may glaze over after they take in a couple of paragraphs about Canadian tariffs or political developments in Pakistan; a story…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-graham/a-readers-eyes-may-glaze-over-after-they-take-in-a-couple-of/) [Donald E. Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-graham/) > [“As they say, a word to the wise is sufficient. And here I’ve gone and written five paragraphs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/as-they-say-a-word-to-the-wise-is-sufficient-and-here-i-ve-gone-and/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [“I never liked writing concluding paragraphs to papers where you just repeat what you've already said with phrases like 'In summation' and 'To conclude'.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-never-liked-writing-concluding-paragraphs-to-papers-where-you-just/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“My epiphany: Printed words were the shadows of referents. Things: rock, sand, onion. Ideas: carpool, justice, maximization, irrevocability. Paragraphs were composite shadows of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-horvath/my-epiphany-printed-words-were-the-shadows-of-referents-things-rock/) [Tim Horvath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-horvath/) > [You know how some people write every day at a certain point? I'm not like that. I carry something around for a long time.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamaica-kincaid/you-know-how-some-people-write-every-day-at-a-certain-point-i-m-not/) [Jamaica Kincaid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamaica-kincaid/) > [Prose is like this big block - you write big paragraphs. I feel that when I'm reading and writing, that a prose book is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-callahan/prose-is-like-this-big-block-you-write-big-paragraphs-i-feel-that/) [Bill Callahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-callahan/) > [“Everything I want to say and everything I've wished to say begins to take shape, falling to the floor and scrambling upright. Paragraphs and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahereh-mafi/everything-i-want-to-say-and-everything-i-ve-wished-to-say-begins-to/) [Tahereh Mafi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahereh-mafi/) > [My God, this novel makes me break out in a cold sweat! Do you know how much I've written in five months, since the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/my-god-this-novel-makes-me-break-out-in-a-cold-sweat-do-you-know-how/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/words-create-sentences-sentences-create-paragraphs-sometimes/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [Keep your paragraphs short. Writing is visual - it catches the eye before it has a chance to catch the brain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-zinsser/keep-your-paragraphs-short-writing-is-visual-it-catches-the-eye/) [William Zinsser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-zinsser/) > [“When you're inside your own story, you don't see things like a reader. You don't see your life in tidy paragraphs and chapters.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-spinelli/when-you-re-inside-your-own-story-you-don-t-see-things-like-a-reader/) [Jerry Spinelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-spinelli/) > [I will try to cram these paragraphs full of facts and give them a weight and shape no greater than that of a cloud…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brendan-gill/i-will-try-to-cram-these-paragraphs-full-of-facts-and-give-them-a/) [Brendan Gill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brendan-gill/) ## More by David Denby > [Never throw fruit at someone who understands the theatrics of the situation better than you do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/never-throw-fruit-at-someone-who-understands-the-theatrics-of-the/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [Entertaining the reader is a good function.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/entertaining-the-reader-is-a-good-function/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [“If you don't read books, and if you don't get consumed by the physical and moral life of men and women in fiction and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/if-you-don-t-read-books-and-if-you-don-t-get-consumed-by-the-physical/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [The greatest all-around American film actor is James Stewart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/the-greatest-all-around-american-film-actor-is-james-stewart/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [Corporate irony not only ridicules the thing it is selling but the very act of selling it. In the process it disarms critics by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/corporate-irony-not-only-ridicules-the-thing-it-is-selling-but-the/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [The problem of criticism is not judgment but evocation - conveying the particular emotional and visual feel that the movie has.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/the-problem-of-criticism-is-not-judgment-but-evocation-conveying-the/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [Trivial details have been summoned, in part, to make a satirical point about upper-middle-class marriage-that the whole thing can slip away between the white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/trivial-details-have-been-summoned-in-part-to-make-a-satirical-point/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [“Whether white, black, Asian, or Latino, American students rarely arrive at college as habitual readers, which means that few of them have more than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/whether-white-black-asian-or-latino-american-students-rarely-arrive/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [The director, Antoine Fuqua, relies on small details, which anchor the vigilante-as-saint myth in at least a minimal degree of reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/the-director-antoine-fuqua-relies-on-small-details-which-anchor-the/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [Art talk is punk. Let the movie do your speaking for you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/art-talk-is-punk-let-the-movie-do-your-speaking-for-you/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [Crash is hyper-articulate and often breathtakingly intelligent and always brazenly alive. I think it's easily the strongest American film since Clint Eastwood's Mystic River,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/crash-is-hyper-articulate-and-often-breathtakingly-intelligent-and/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [Mi-yammi! The extraordinary city, with its Judeo-Cubano population, its mix of surgical-appliance and sex-fetishist obsessions, takes the American melting pot past the boil. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/mi-yammi-the-extraordinary-city-with-its-judeo-cubano-population-its/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [The action comes at us through a buzz of nattering remarks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/the-action-comes-at-us-through-a-buzz-of-nattering-remarks/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [“Just because a book is a classic doesn't mean it has anything to do with real life. Homer's ILIAD is taught at Columbia precisely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/just-because-a-book-is-a-classic-doesn-t-mean-it-has-anything-to-do/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) > [“Snark is what people on the inside call any attempt at protest from people on the outside. I hate it on principle, as do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-denby/snark-is-what-people-on-the-inside-call-any-attempt-at-protest-from/) [David Denby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) [Explore all 18 David Denby quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-denby/) ## More Criticism quotes > [Regardless of the criticisms I receive from the left, the right and the middle, I think it's important to maintain a prolific writing jab,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/regardless-of-the-criticisms-i-receive-from-the-left-the-right-and/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [I receive something we might euphemistically call an 'inappropriately hostile' response - that is to say, more than fair criticism or even fair anger…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-beard/i-receive-something-we-might-euphemistically-call-an-inappropriately/) [Mary Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-beard/) > [A common fallacy in much of the adverse criticism to which science is subjected today is that it claims certainty, infallibility and complete emotional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cyril-norman-hinshelwood/a-common-fallacy-in-much-of-the-adverse-criticism-to-which-science-is/) [Cyril Norman Hinshelwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cyril-norman-hinshelwood/) > [For some reason, we are truly convinced that if we criticize ourselves, the criticism will lead to change. If we are harsh, we believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geneen-roth/for-some-reason-we-are-truly-convinced-that-if-we-criticize-ourselves/) [Geneen Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geneen-roth/) > [I reject criticism because the last thing I wanted was to sit there and look at people talking. I think people are conditioned to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-tyrnauer/i-reject-criticism-because-the-last-thing-i-wanted-was-to-sit-there/) [Matt Tyrnauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-tyrnauer/) > [I'm more comfortable modelling as a man because I don't get any criticism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rain-dove/i-m-more-comfortable-modelling-as-a-man-because-i-don-t-get-any/) [Rain Dove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rain-dove/) > [I don't mind positive criticism, but when it is negative and personal, it is quite hard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/inzamam-ul-haq/i-don-t-mind-positive-criticism-but-when-it-is-negative-and-personal/) [Inzamam-ul-Haq](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/inzamam-ul-haq/) > [Judge a person not by his ability to make money but by his ability to retain it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/judge-a-person-not-by-his-ability-to-make-money-but-by-his-ability-to/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [Everything is allowable in literature, but what is not allowable in criticism is objection on the grounds of probability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/everything-is-allowable-in-literature-but-what-is-not-allowable-in/) [Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/) > [Lots of relationships fail because we spend more time pointing out each other's mistakes and not enough time enjoying each other's company.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/lots-of-relationships-fail-because-we-spend-more-time-pointing-out/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If our aim is to praise, we should forget to criticize; if our aim is to criticize, we should remember to praise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/if-our-aim-is-to-praise-we-should-forget-to-criticize-if-our-aim-is/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [No man can be criticised but by a greater than he. Do not, then, read the reviews.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/no-man-can-be-criticised-but-by-a-greater-than-he-do-not-then-read/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [People believe that criticism should be objective, whatever that means, but I really don't understand what people mean by that. I guess if you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-christgau/people-believe-that-criticism-should-be-objective-whatever-that-means/) [Robert Christgau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-christgau/) > [I welcome criticism. I come from a - I wouldn't say mean, but you've got to have tough skin to be in my family.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saweetie/i-welcome-criticism-i-come-from-a-i-wouldn-t-say-mean-but-you-ve-got/) [Saweetie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saweetie/) > [The good author is he who contemplates without marked joy or excessive sorrow the adventures of his soul amongst criticisms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/the-good-author-is-he-who-contemplates-without-marked-joy-or/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) [Browse all 3,954 Criticism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The trouble with today's snarky pipsqueaks who break off a sentence or two, or who write a couple of mean paragraphs, is that they don't go far enough; they don't have a coherent view of life. 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