We read deeply for varied reasons, most of them familiar: that we cannot know enough people profoundly enough; that we need to know ourselves better; that we require knowledge, not just of self and others, but of the way things…

Quote by Harold Bloom

Topics: Harold Bloom Quotes

I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron.

I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron.

What is supposed to be the very essence of Judaism - which is the notion...

What is supposed to be the very essence of Judaism - which is the notion...

Criticism starts - it has to start - with a real passion for reading. It...

Criticism starts - it has to start - with a real passion for reading. It...

Shakespeare will not make us better, and he will not make us worse, but he...

Shakespeare will not make us better, and he will not make us worse, but he...

If I were to sum up the negative reactions to my work, I think there...

If I were to sum up the negative reactions to my work, I think there...

If they wish to alleviate the sufferings of the exploited classes, let them live up...

If they wish to alleviate the sufferings of the exploited classes, let them live up...

In the finest critics one hears the full cry of the human. They tell one...

In the finest critics one hears the full cry of the human. They tell one...

The second, and I think this is the much more overt and I think it...

The second, and I think this is the much more overt and I think it...

But in the end, in the end one is alone. We are all of us...

But in the end, in the end one is alone. We are all of us...

The world gets older, without getting either better or worse and so does literature. But...

The world gets older, without getting either better or worse and so does literature. But...

I have never believed that the critic is the rival of the poet, but I...

I have never believed that the critic is the rival of the poet, but I...

The world does not get to be a better or a worse place; it just...

The world does not get to be a better or a worse place; it just...

In fact, it is Shakespeare who gives us the map of the mind. It is...

In fact, it is Shakespeare who gives us the map of the mind. It is...

No poem, not even Shakespeare or Milton or Chaucer, is ever strong enough to totally...

No poem, not even Shakespeare or Milton or Chaucer, is ever strong enough to totally...

I don't believe in myths of decline or myths of progress, even as regards the...

I don't believe in myths of decline or myths of progress, even as regards the...

Indeed the three prophecies about the death of individual art are, in their different ways,...

Indeed the three prophecies about the death of individual art are, in their different ways,...

Shakespeare is universal.

Shakespeare is universal.

All that a critic, as critic, can give poets is the deadly encouragement that never...

All that a critic, as critic, can give poets is the deadly encouragement that never...

What I think I have in common with the school of deconstruction is the mode...

What I think I have in common with the school of deconstruction is the mode...

Shakespeare is the true multicultural author. He exists in all languages. He is put on...

Shakespeare is the true multicultural author. He exists in all languages. He is put on...