"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweet and blood; who strives valiantly ... who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worth cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worse, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have ... known neither victory or defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt
To a high degree our educational system is one founded on criticism and critical thought. There are many positive aspects to this - learning to be a critical thinker prevents one from being a fool and wasting ones precious time (read: life) pursuing ideas that are flawed, being critical allows one to quickly break down a situation to get the feel of it, and criticism is easy and fun. But criticism is also dangerous - the ease, fun, and ego boost that occurs can be a trap preventing one from going further. Critical thought should be used to get you in the game and to improve your game, it is not the game itself. Do you want to be the fat guy on the couch who plays no sports that screams at the TV, yelling that the coach is a moron, that player X is weak, etc. or do you want to be a player? Criticism can be a trap - and one that can capture many intelligent people (many academics are the equivalent of the fat man yelling at the TV - creation of value is the game, not the criticism of others. Criticism without action and creation is simply whining.).
Criticism as an end in itself is pseudo-intellectualism - it is only one tool in your journey and is easy. It is not "stupid action man versus smart thinking man" - it is creating versus consuming. Either you are actively living life, creating wealth and value (friends, memories, joy, artifacts, etc.), or not. The more you engage and create, the better off you are.
Learn how to be critical and critical thought - but learn this to guide your actions, not as an excuse for taking no action. When in doubt you should look to see if something is simple or if it is easy - you want to do simple things, not easy things. Criticism is easy, relative to action (which requires risk, courage, sustained efforts, etc.), which suggests that it is not a sufficient mode to confront life with.
