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.
Harold BloomI think the Greek New Testament is the strongest and most successful misreading of a great prior text in the entire history of influence.
Harold BloomWe can be reluctant to recognize how much of our culture was literary, particularly now that so many of the institutional purveyors of literature happily have joined in proclaiming its death. A substantial number of Americans who believe they worship God actually worship three major literary characters: the Yahweh of the J Writer (earliest author of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers), the Jesus of the Gospel of Mark, and Allah of the Koran.
Harold BloomWhat matters in literature in the end is surely the idiosyncratic, the individual, the flavor or the color of a particular human suffering.
Harold BloomReading the very best writersโlet us say Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Tolstoyโis not going to make us better citizens. Art is perfectly useless, according to the sublime Oscar Wilde, who was right about everything. He also told us that all bad poetry is sincere. Had I the power to do so, I would command that these words be engraved above every gate at every university, so that each student might ponder the splendor of the insight.
Harold Bloom