Escaping Criticism (1874) by Pere Borrell del Caso

No one ever hears positive internal voices. When you hear the voice in your head saying, ‘Who are you to do this? Who are you to do that?” Just know it comes from the accuser. God never asks you, “Who are you?” He knows exactly who you are.
– Jon Acuff

It is not the road ahead that wears you out — it is the grain of sand in your shoe.
– Arabian proverb

Criticism is something you can easily avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing. ~Aristotle

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.- Abraham Lincoln

The more time you spend dwelling about what someone said, the less time you have to do something with it. – Lori Deschene

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.- Winston Churchill

Ephesians 4:29 (NRSV)
Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth
without destroying his roots.- Frank A. Clark

I want to become more aware of my own interactions— both digital and face-to-face. I want to watch out for the ways that I contribute to a culture of incivility and polarization by the things that I say, the stories or images I share in social media, the anger, hatered, or cynicism that I harbor or nurture in my heart. I want to challenge myself to take the time and energy to look more deeply into an issue–or the eyes of another person—before I jump into judgment.
– Beth A. Richardson, “From the Editor,”
pages 4-5 in Alive Now, January/February 2013.

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