--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A critic is a reader who ruminates. Thus…" description: "\"A critic is a reader who ruminates. Thus, he should have more than one stomach.\" — Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e3/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlege_books_a-critic-is-a-reader-who-ruminates-thus_726604.png" --- # A critic is a reader who ruminates. Thus, he should have… ![“A critic is a reader who ruminates. Thus, he should have more than one stomach.” quote by Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e3/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlege_books_a-critic-is-a-reader-who-ruminates-thus_726604.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e3/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlege_books_a-critic-is-a-reader-who-ruminates-thus_726604.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e3/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlege_books_a-critic-is-a-reader-who-ruminates-thus_726604.png) > “A critic is a reader who ruminates. Thus, he should have more than one stomach.” [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Critics should be open‑minded, digesting many perspectives rather than a single view. **In simple terms:** Critics need diverse viewpoints. Key Takeaway Cultivate intellectual breadth. Themes critical thinking open‑mindedness literature Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - academic reviews - book clubs - media analysis Key Concepts philosophy interpretation pluralism Questions to Reflect On - Do you seek multiple lenses when judging? - How does diversity of thought improve critique? A Different Perspective One viewpoint may dilute depth of analysis. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Critic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/critic/) [Critic Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/critic-reader-2611503/) [Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reader/) [Reader Ruminates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reader-ruminates-5699328/) [Ruminates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruminates-5699330/) [Ruminates Stomach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruminates-stomach-5699329/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Stomach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stomach/) ## Related quotes > [“Here the phenomenologist has nothing in common with the literary critic who, as has frequently been noted, judges a work that he could not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/here-the-phenomenologist-has-nothing-in-common-with-the-literary/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [A true critic, in the perusal of a book, is like a dog at a feast, whose thoughts and stomach are wholly set upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/a-true-critic-in-the-perusal-of-a-book-is-like-a-dog-at-a-feast-whose/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) > [When the author has no idea of what to reply to a critic, he then likes to say: you could not do it better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/when-the-author-has-no-idea-of-what-to-reply-to-a-critic-he-then/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [The critic is a man who prefers the indolence of opinion to the trials of action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mason-brown/the-critic-is-a-man-who-prefers-the-indolence-of-opinion-to-the/) [John Mason Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mason-brown/) > [The critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-kael/the-critic-is-the-only-independent-source-of-information-the-rest-is/) [Pauline Kael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-kael/) > [To be a critic, you have to have maybe three percent education, five percent intelligence, two percent style, and 90 percent gall and egomania…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-crist/to-be-a-critic-you-have-to-have-maybe-three-percent-education-five/) [Judith Crist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-crist/) > [The television critic, whatever his pretensions, does not labour in the same vineyard as those he criticizes; his grapes are all sour.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-raphael/the-television-critic-whatever-his-pretensions-does-not-labour-in-the/) [Frederic Raphael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-raphael/) > [I remember the early 1980s, when I first got one of these fabulous film critic jobs. 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Even in films where people said they liked me, I have disliked myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samantha-akkineni/i-am-my-biggest-critic-even-in-films-where-people-said-they-liked-me/) [Samantha Akkineni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samantha-akkineni/) > [Critics are biased, and so are readers. (Indeed, a critic is a bundle of biases held loosely together by a sense of taste.) But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitney-balliett/critics-are-biased-and-so-are-readers-indeed-a-critic-is-a-bundle-of/) [Whitney Balliett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitney-balliett/) > [I am absolutely my own biggest critic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lando-norris/i-am-absolutely-my-own-biggest-critic/) [Lando Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lando-norris/) ## More by Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel > [The symmetry and organization of history teaches us that mankind, during its existence and development, genuinely was and became an individual, a person. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/the-symmetry-and-organization-of-history-teaches-us-that-mankind/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Both in their origins and effects, boredom and stuffy air resemble each other. They are usually generated whenever a large number of people gather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/both-in-their-origins-and-effects-boredom-and-stuffy-air-resemble/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Every good man progressively becomes God. To become God, to be man, and to educate oneself, are expressions that are synonymous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/every-good-man-progressively-becomes-god-to-become-god-to-be-man-and/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [The naive is what is or appears to be natural, individual, or classical to the point of irony or to the point of continuous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/the-naive-is-what-is-or-appears-to-be-natural-individual-or-classical/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Women are treated as unjustly in poetry as in life. The feminine ones are not idealistic, and the idealistic not feminine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/women-are-treated-as-unjustly-in-poetry-as-in-life-the-feminine-ones/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [In every good poem everything must be both deliberate and instinctive. That is how the poem becomes ideal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/in-every-good-poem-everything-must-be-both-deliberate-and-instinctive/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Only he who possesses a personal religion, an original view of infinity, can be an artist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/only-he-who-possesses-a-personal-religion-an-original-view-of/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Wit as an instrument of revenge is as infamous as art is as a means of sensual titillation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/wit-as-an-instrument-of-revenge-is-as-infamous-as-art-is-as-a-means/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Where philosophy ends, poetry must commence. There should not be a common point of view, a natural manner of thinking which standsin contrast to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/where-philosophy-ends-poetry-must-commence-there-should-not-be-a/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Wit is an explosion of the compound spirit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/wit-is-an-explosion-of-the-compound-spirit/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Life is writing. The sole purpose of mankind is to engrave the thoughts of divinity onto the tablets of nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/life-is-writing-the-sole-purpose-of-mankind-is-to-engrave-the/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Religion can emerge in all forms of feeling: here wild anger, there the sweetest pain; here consuming hatred, there the childlike smile of serene…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/religion-can-emerge-in-all-forms-of-feeling-here-wild-anger-there-the/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [Women do not have as great a need for poetry because their own essence is poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/women-do-not-have-as-great-a-need-for-poetry-because-their-own/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [When the author has no idea of what to reply to a critic, he then likes to say: you could not do it better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/when-the-author-has-no-idea-of-what-to-reply-to-a-critic-he-then/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [One mentions many artists who are actually art works of nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/one-mentions-many-artists-who-are-actually-art-works-of-nature/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) [Explore all 186 Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! 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There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. 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