Just as most of us prefer to watch a trapeze artist work without a net, we like to be absolutely sure that a virtuoso is giving us our money's worth, and a seemingly effortless performance, no matter how spectacular it may be, deprives us of that slightly sadistic thrill.

Terry Teachout

Absolutely Artist Effortless Giving How Just Like Matter May Money Most Net Our Performance Prefer Sadistic Seemingly Slightly Spectacular Sure Thrill Us Watch Without Work Worth

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I suspect that most playgoers don't understand how inexact a science literary translation is. Even the simplest of lines may lend itself to multiple renderings.

— Terry Teachout

Nowadays, most educated people would just as soon stay home and watch 'Breaking Bad' as shell out a hundred bucks to see a Broadway play - assuming that there are any plays on Broadway worth seeing, which long ago ceased to be a safe bet.

— Terry Teachout

The setting of 'Billy Elliot' is the British miners' strike of 1984-85, about which the average American playgoer knows absolutely nothing.

— Terry Teachout

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A critic is not a creative artist, is a commenter, a midwife of creativity, but not creative himself.

— Terry Teachout

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For the critic, the word 'best' is like a grenade without a pin: Toss it around too freely, and you're likely to get your hand blown off.

— Terry Teachout

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