Criticism

Everybody receives criticism at one time or another. I recently received some unexpected public criticism from an equally unexpected source! It’s good to know how to receive it graciously, and possibly even more important to know when and how to give it. Somethings I found on a short investigation on the topic.

Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots

He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

Prov. 12:18 Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

While preaching on John 13:14, the duty of disciples to wash one another’s feet, Mr. Finlayson of Helmsdale observed, “One way in which disciples wash one another’s feet is by reproving one another. But the reproof must not be couched in angry words, so as to destroy the effect; nor in tame, so as to fail of effect. Just as in washing a brother’s feet, you must not use boiling water to scald, nor frozen water to freeze them.”

— Charles Haddon Spurgeon,

Sandwich every bit of criticism between two thick layers of praise.
Mary Kay Ash

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

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