I was saving this one up for later use ... but I like it too much not to share. A.A.Milne writing about Kenneth Grahame's
The Wind in the Willows says:
When you sit down to it, don't be so ridiculous as to suppose that you are sitting in judgment on my taste, still less on the genius of Kenneth Grahame. You are merely sitting in judgment on yourself. … You may be worthy; I do not know. But it is you who are on trial.
I first found this quote in an introduction (written by Brian Sibley) in my copy of
The Wind in the Willows, but have since found it (the original?) in A.A.Milne's
Not that it Matters (see at
Project Gutenberg).