Joshua Oppenheimer

We are constantly - in order to cope with painful realities - shuffling through third-rate, half-remembered fantasies taken from movies, from TV, from people we admire. We do this individually, we do it collectively - we tell stories to escape our most painful truths.

British Director

Nina Simone

The protest years were over, not just for me but for a whole generation, and in music, just like in politics, many of the greatest talents were dead or in exile, and their place was filled by third-rate imitators.

American Musician

William Wyler

I'm delighted that 'The Sound of Music' is doing so well. Of course, it's an infallible piece of material. Even when second- and third-rate road companies were doing the play, they did enormous business.

American Director

A. A. Milne

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.

English Author

David Harsanyi

Whether you're a believer or not, a flawed biblical epic is going to be more entertaining than a remake of a Paul Verhoeven movie or some third-rate sci-fi flick.

American Journalist

Sarah Waters

I knew I'd always be a second-rate academic, and I thought, 'Well, I'd rather be a second-rate novelist or even a third-rate one'.

Welsh Novelist

George T. Conway III

The underlying crime in Watergate was a clumsy, third-rate burglary in an election campaign that turned out to be a landslide.

American Lawyer

Subramanian Swamy

Chidamabaram has ruined the economy. He has turned out to be a third-rate failure as finance minister.

Indian Politician

Leo Rosten

First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people.

American Novelist

Richard Painter

Watergate was a third-rate burglary. It was purely domestic in nature.

Carries a critical tone, often suggesting something is below expected standards.

Negative Implication

In some cultures, calling something 'third-rate' can be seen as very disrespectful or insulting.

Cultural Connotation

What one may consider 'third-rate', another might find acceptable; it's subjective.

Subjectivity

 it's always some third-rate movie with some second-rate star. But the reason it's number one is because that's the week it came out. Because it's new, because it's fresh. People saw it and said "I didn't know that was there" and they noticed it. Two of the big success stories of the last 20 years in retail --

Third-rate

Negative Implication

Cultural Connotation

Subjectivity

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