From: Amadeus
Genre: Movies
Who said it?: Emperor Joseph II
The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes the Academy Award nominated picture Amadeus. The film is about the life and times of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is told from the point of view of another composer Antonio Salieri (played by F. Murray Abraham), who after attempting to commit suicide, talks to a priest to “confess” his involvement in Mozart’s death.
The quote comes after Mozart (played by Tom Hulce) plays one of his pieces for Emperor Joseph II (played by Jeffrey Jones), a ruler that prides himself on being a great musician when he really isn’t. While the Emperor is pleased with Mozart’s work, he does have one issue with his composition…
Geek wisdom: There are always going to be people critical of what you do and the results you’ve achieved. However, just because they feel the need to criticize, that doesn’t necessarily mean they know what is actually good and what is bad. There are going to always be people that think they are the authority on a subject when they actually know nothing about it. It can be hard to spot these people but, when you do, you shouldn’t listen to them.
We should be open to criticism. However, he have to make sure we listen to the right kind of criticism (the ones that helps us to improve) and the ones coming from the right kind of people (the ones that actually know what they’re talking about).