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

Sometimes one succeeds, sometimes one fails.

Sometimes one succeeds, sometimes one fails.

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...

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...

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...

What we call a poem is mostly what is not there on the page. The...

What we call a poem is mostly what is not there on the page. The...

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...

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...

Criticism in the universities, I'll have to admit, has entered a phase where I am...

Criticism in the universities, I'll have to admit, has entered a phase where I am...

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...

I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron.

I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron.

I would say that there is no future for literary studies as such in the...

I would say that there is no future for literary studies as such in the...

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...

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,...

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...

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 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...

I think Freud is about contamination, but I think that is something he learned from...

I think Freud is about contamination, but I think that is something he learned from...

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...

Shakespeare is universal.

Shakespeare is universal.

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...