Harold Bloom

"I realized early on that the academy and the literary world alike-and I don't think there really is a distinction between the two-are always dominated by fools, knaves, charlatans and bureaucrats. And that being the case, any human being, male or female, of whatever status, who has a voice of her or his own, is not going to be liked. "

"Reading well is one of the great pleasures that solitude can afford you. "

"We read frequently if unknowingly, in quest of a mind more original than our own. "