i do not have to eat an entire bowl of scabs to know they are scabs

Ssome literary put-downs. They are taken from this list of fifty.*

Coward on Wilde:

Am reading more of Oscar Wilde. What a tiresome, affected sod

Hemingway on James Jones:

To me he is an enormously skillful f#*&-up and his book will do great damage to our country. Probably I should re-read it again to give you a truer answer. But I do not have to eat an entire bowl of scabs to know they are scabs...I hope he kills himself

Anatole France on Zola:

His work is evil, and he is one of those unhappy beings of whom one can say that it would be better had he never been born

*I can't remember whose blog I found them at. You should read all the blogs on the right anyway. Marbury and Light Reading are the best bets, but I couldn't find the link just now.