--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In short, I am amenable to criticism, but…" description: "\"“In short, I am amenable to criticism, but only within the sphere of what I am trying to do; I will not pretend to do otherwise.”\" — Flannery O'Connor" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5e/flannery-o-connor-639_amenable_in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but_398416.png" --- # In short, I am amenable to criticism, but only within the… ![“In short, I am amenable to criticism, but only within the sphere of what I am trying to do; I will not pretend to do otherwise.” quote by Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5e/flannery-o-connor-639_amenable_in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but_398416.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5e/flannery-o-connor-639_amenable_in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but_398416.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5e/flannery-o-connor-639_amenable_in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but_398416.png) > ““In short, I am amenable to criticism, but only within the sphere of what I am trying to do; I will not pretend to do otherwise.”” [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author accepts constructive feedback only when it aligns with their goals, refusing to act contrary to their purpose. **In simple terms:** Accept criticism that fits your aim; ignore irrelevant critique. Key Takeaway Seek relevant feedback, reject misaligned criticism. Themes criticism integrity focus authenticity Mood reflective pragmatic Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - creative projects - professional development - personal growth Key Concepts self‑direction boundary setting goal alignment Questions to Reflect On - When is it wise to consider criticism outside your current goal? - How do you discern useful feedback? A Different Perspective May limit learning from unexpected perspectives. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Amenable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amenable/) [Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism/) ## Related quotes > [In the old days, people thought that wouldn't be amenable to life. Modern studies with computers have shown that it's okay to be tidally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-seager/in-the-old-days-people-thought-that-wouldn-t-be-amenable-to-life/) [Sara Seager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-seager/) > [In the etheric body are centered the forces animating man's physical vehicle, so disease is evidenced in the etheric before it manifests in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corinne-heline/in-the-etheric-body-are-centered-the-forces-animating-man-s-physical/) [Corinne Heline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corinne-heline/) > [The artist's work, it is sometimes said, is to celebrate. But really that is not so; it is to express wonder. And something terrible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-hampl/the-artist-s-work-it-is-sometimes-said-is-to-celebrate-but-really/) [Patricia Hampl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-hampl/) > [Man is an Animal, formidable both from his Passions and his Reason; his Passions often urging him to great Evils, and his Reason furnishing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-berkeley/man-is-an-animal-formidable-both-from-his-passions-and-his-reason-his/) [George Berkeley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-berkeley/) > [Babies just change everything. You have to become super-selfless and super-tired and super-amenable to change. They just change all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-patrick-harris/babies-just-change-everything-you-have-to-become-super-selfless-and/) [Neil Patrick Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-patrick-harris/) > [Of all social institutions language is least amenable to initiative. It blends with the life of society, and the latter, inert by nature, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/of-all-social-institutions-language-is-least-amenable-to-initiative/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) > [Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/science-does-not-promise-absolute-truth-nor-does-it-consider-that/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/democracy-demands-that-the-religiously-motivated-translate-their-2/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [ We \[ with Emilio Estevez\] asked if we could take some things \[ in Breakfast Club\] that weren't in the shooting draft, but from… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judd-nelson/we-with-emilio-estevez-asked-if-we-could-take-some-things-in/) [Judd Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judd-nelson/) > [Like most young physicists, when I was a kid enraptured with physics, I thought, "Everything can be explained by the theory of the atom!"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-frank/like-most-young-physicists-when-i-was-a-kid-enraptured-with-physics-i/) [Adam Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-frank/) > [And, speaking generally, passion seems not to be amenable to reason, but only to force.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/and-speaking-generally-passion-seems-not-to-be-amenable-to-reason-but/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [If asked how to cope with a great host of the enemy in orderly array and on the point of marching to the attack,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/if-asked-how-to-cope-with-a-great-host-of-the-enemy-in-orderly-array/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [I've been very lucky. Directors I've worked with have been very amenable to changes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felicity-jones/i-ve-been-very-lucky-directors-i-ve-worked-with-have-been-very/) [Felicity Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felicity-jones/) > [And the Truth turns out to be nothing less than the amazing but undeniable fact that the whole outer world -whether it be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmet-fox/and-the-truth-turns-out-to-be-nothing-less-than-the-amazing-but/) [Emmet Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmet-fox/) > [Dostoevsky believed that the gods of rationalism and materialist utilitarianism had joined in conspiracy against all other ethical systems. ... The accumulation of capital,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/dostoevsky-believed-that-the-gods-of-rationalism-and-materialist/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) ## More by Flannery O'Connor > [“Wait here, wait here!" he cried and jumped up and began to run for help toward a cluster of lights he saw in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/wait-here-wait-here-he-cried-and-jumped-up-and-began-to-run-for-help/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [... the man in the violent situation reveals those qualities least dispensable in his personality, those qualities which are all he will have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/the-man-in-the-violent-situation-reveals-those-qualities-least/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“I don’t know how to cure the source-itis except to tell you that I can discover a good many possible sources myself for Wise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/i-don-t-know-how-to-cure-the-source-itis-except-to-tell-you-that-i/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“For the fiction writer himself the whole story is the meaning, because it is an experience, not an abstraction.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/for-the-fiction-writer-himself-the-whole-story-is-the-meaning-because/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Everything that gave her pleasure was small and depressed him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/everything-that-gave-her-pleasure-was-small-and-depressed-him/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/to-the-hard-of-hearing-you-shout-and-for-the-almost-blind-you-draw/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“He felt his hunger no longer as a pain but as a tide. He felt it rising in himself through time and darkness, rising…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/he-felt-his-hunger-no-longer-as-a-pain-but-as-a-tide-he-felt-it/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-thought-you-were-going-to-never/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Technique in the minds of many is something rigid, something like a formula that you impose on the material; but in the best stories…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/technique-in-the-minds-of-many-is-something-rigid-something-like-a/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“There are all kinds of truth ... but behind all of them there is only one truth and that is that there's no truth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/there-are-all-kinds-of-truth-but-behind-all-of-them-there-is-only-one/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“Mrs. May winced. She thought the word Jesus should be kept inside the church building like other words inside the bedroom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/mrs-may-winced-she-thought-the-word-jesus-should-be-kept-inside-the/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [I feel that discussing story-writing in terms of plot, character, and theme is like trying to describe the expression on a face by saying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/i-feel-that-discussing-story-writing-in-terms-of-plot-character-and/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [She had observed that the more education they got, the less they could do. Their father had gone to a one-room schoolhouse through the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/she-had-observed-that-the-more-education-they-got-the-less-they-could/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [One of the awful things about writing when you are a Christian is that for you the ultimate reality is the Incarnation, the present…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/one-of-the-awful-things-about-writing-when-you-are-a-christian-is/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“Hazel Motes sat at a forward angel on the green plush train seat, looking one minute at the window as if he might want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/hazel-motes-sat-at-a-forward-angel-on-the-green-plush-train-seat/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) [Explore all 432 Flannery O'Connor quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) ## More Amenable quotes > [In the old days, people thought that wouldn't be amenable to life. Modern studies with computers have shown that it's okay to be tidally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-seager/in-the-old-days-people-thought-that-wouldn-t-be-amenable-to-life/) [Sara Seager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-seager/) > [And the Truth turns out to be nothing less than the amazing but undeniable fact that the whole outer world -whether it be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmet-fox/and-the-truth-turns-out-to-be-nothing-less-than-the-amazing-but/) [Emmet Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmet-fox/) > [I've been very lucky. Directors I've worked with have been very amenable to changes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felicity-jones/i-ve-been-very-lucky-directors-i-ve-worked-with-have-been-very/) [Felicity Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felicity-jones/) > [If asked how to cope with a great host of the enemy in orderly array and on the point of marching to the attack,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/if-asked-how-to-cope-with-a-great-host-of-the-enemy-in-orderly-array/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [And, speaking generally, passion seems not to be amenable to reason, but only to force.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/and-speaking-generally-passion-seems-not-to-be-amenable-to-reason-but/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Like most young physicists, when I was a kid enraptured with physics, I thought, "Everything can be explained by the theory of the atom!"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-frank/like-most-young-physicists-when-i-was-a-kid-enraptured-with-physics-i/) [Adam Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-frank/) > [ We \[ with Emilio Estevez\] asked if we could take some things \[ in Breakfast Club\] that weren't in the shooting draft, but from… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judd-nelson/we-with-emilio-estevez-asked-if-we-could-take-some-things-in/) [Judd Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judd-nelson/) > [Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/democracy-demands-that-the-religiously-motivated-translate-their-2/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/science-does-not-promise-absolute-truth-nor-does-it-consider-that/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [Of all social institutions language is least amenable to initiative. It blends with the life of society, and the latter, inert by nature, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/of-all-social-institutions-language-is-least-amenable-to-initiative/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) > [Babies just change everything. You have to become super-selfless and super-tired and super-amenable to change. They just change all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-patrick-harris/babies-just-change-everything-you-have-to-become-super-selfless-and/) [Neil Patrick Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-patrick-harris/) > [Man is an Animal, formidable both from his Passions and his Reason; his Passions often urging him to great Evils, and his Reason furnishing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-berkeley/man-is-an-animal-formidable-both-from-his-passions-and-his-reason-his/) [George Berkeley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-berkeley/) > [The artist's work, it is sometimes said, is to celebrate. But really that is not so; it is to express wonder. And something terrible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-hampl/the-artist-s-work-it-is-sometimes-said-is-to-celebrate-but-really/) [Patricia Hampl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-hampl/) > [In the etheric body are centered the forces animating man's physical vehicle, so disease is evidenced in the etheric before it manifests in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corinne-heline/in-the-etheric-body-are-centered-the-forces-animating-man-s-physical/) [Corinne Heline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corinne-heline/) > [Dostoevsky believed that the gods of rationalism and materialist utilitarianism had joined in conspiracy against all other ethical systems. ... The accumulation of capital,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/dostoevsky-believed-that-the-gods-of-rationalism-and-materialist/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) [Browse all 35 Amenable quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amenable/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In short, I am amenable to criticism, but only within the sphere of what I am trying to do; I will not pretend to do otherwise.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Flannery O'Connor" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but-only-within-the-sphere-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Amenable" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but-only-within-the-sphere-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5e/flannery-o-connor-639_amenable_in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but_398416.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5e/flannery-o-connor-639_amenable_in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but_398416.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5e/flannery-o-connor-639_amenable_in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but_398416.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In short, I am amenable to criticism, but only within the sphere of what I am trying to do; I will not…” — Flannery O'Connor", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Flannery O'Connor", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“In short, I am amenable to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but-only-within-the-sphere-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but-only-within-the-sphere-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```