Painterly rolled theatre paper tied with green ribbon beside a quill on muted green.

Original artwork, not a still

John Steinbeck

Give a critic an inch, he'll write a play.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Steinbeck quips that a critic given the slightest opening will end up writing a play. It riffs on 'give an inch, take a mile'. The dig is that critics who judge others' work may end up wanting to do it themselves.

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