A few quotes on the theme of judgement and competitions from John Vernon
Lord
Most people
suspend their judgement till somebody else has expressed his own and then
they repeat it. Ernest Dimnet, The Art of Thinking (1928),
3.8.
He hath a good judgement that relieth not wholly on his own Thomas Fuller,
Gnomologia (1732), 1882.
In order to judge properly, one must get away somewhat from what one is
judging, after having loved it. Andre; Gide `Portraits and Aphorisms',
Pretexts (1903), tr.. Angelo P. Bertocci et al.
The ultimate cynicism is to suspend judgement so that you are not judged.
Marya Mannes `Introducing Myself', More in Anger (1958).
Competitions are for horses, not artists. Béla Bartok, Saturday
Review , 25 August 1962.
A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and
outpace. Ovid, The Art of Love , (c AD 8), 3, trans. J. Lewis May.
Examine the contents, not the bottle The Talmud
The value and force of a man's judgement can be measured by his ability
to think independently of his temperamental leanings. Algernon S. Logan,
Vistas From the Stream .
One can no more judge of a man by the actions of an hour than of the climate
of a country by the temperature of a day. J Petit-Senn, Conceits
and Caprices .
Had I been judge, thou shouldst have ten more. Shakespeare, The
Merchant of Venice , iv, 1, 399.
Men judge the complexion of the sky The state and inclination of the day
Shakespeare, Richard II , iii, 2, 194.
You are mine enemy, and make my challenge You shall not be my judge. Shakespeare,
Henry VIII , ii, 4, 78.
To fear judgement. Shakespeare, King Lear , i, 1, 153.
I see men's judgements are a parcel of their fortunes. Shakespeare, King
Lear , iii, 13, 31.
The effect of judgement Is oft the cause of fear. Shakespeare, Cymbeline
, iv, 2, 111.
Do you question me ... for my simple true judgement Shakespeare, Much
Ado About Nothing , i, 1, 168.
O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts. Shakespeare, Julius
Caesar , iii, 2, 109.
Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye. Shakespeare, Love's
Labour's Lost , ii, 1, 15.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
One man's meat is another man's poison. Lucretius, De Rerum Natura
, iv, 637.
That word `judgement' hath bred a kind of remorse in me. Shakespeare,
Richard III i, 4, 109.
A Beauty Contest ; Zeus set up prizes at a baby show for all the animals
and looked at every entry critically. Among the others came an ape who
claimed to be the mother of a handsome child, nearing on her bosom a naked,
snub-nosed pug. The Gods were stirred to laughter at the sight, but mother
ape replied: "Zeus knows who'll get the prize, but I know this, my
child's the beauty of them all." This fable makes it clear to all,
I think, that everyone believes his own child to be handsome.
Babrius, Fable 56 in the translation of B.E.Perry.
The Wolf and Fox are judged by the Ape . A wolf was trying to prove the
charge of theft against a fox, and the latter pleaded not guilty of the
crime. Then an ape took the chair to judge between them. After each had
put the peroration on his plea, the ape is said to have pronounced this
verdict: "You, Mr Wolf, in my opinion did not lose the property for
which you sue; and you, Mr Fox, I'm sure, purloined the thing you so handsomely
deny having taken." Phaedrus, Book 1, Fable 11 in the translation
of B.E.Perry.
TOP LEFT, The Young Hercules facing a Difficult Choice , engraving 17
x 28 cms, by Adamo Scultori c1560.
TOP RIGHT
The Judgement of Paris Zeus chose Paris (a cattle herdsman) to judge the
fairest of the three goddesses - Hera, Athene, and Aphrodite.
TOP LEFT
The Judgment of Solomon print by German master 1575
TOP RIGHT
R Taylor's irreverent version of the Judgment of Paris (see also Daumier'
satirical take on Mythology) |