---
title: "3 Astonishing Quotes By Stephen Greenblatt"
description: "3 Astonishing quotes by Stephen Greenblatt. Plus more from Stephen Greenblatt and more Astonishing sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/stephen-greenblatt-10786_astonishing_first-of-all-there-was-a-volcano-of-word_787832.jpg"
---

> [First of all, there was a volcano of words, an eruption of words that Shakespeare had never used before that had never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/first-of-all-there-was-a-volcano-of-words-an-eruption-of-words-that/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/stephen-greenblatt-10786_astonishing_first-of-all-there-was-a-volcano-of-word_787832.jpg)

> [What matters here are the works - finally without them his life would be uninteresting. What matters, that is, are the astonishing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/what-matters-here-are-the-works-finally-without-them-his-life-would/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5e/stephen-greenblatt-10786_astonishing_what-matters-here-are-the-works-finally_1555429.jpg)

> [The Shakespeare that Shakespeare became is the name that's attached to these astonishing objects that he left behind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/the-shakespeare-that-shakespeare-became-is-the-name-that-s-attached/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3db/stephen-greenblatt-10786_astonishing_the-shakespeare-that-shakespeare-became_2580498.jpg)

## More by Stephen Greenblatt

> [“Eve is a figure for the soul that each human should love. The commandment to be fruitful and multiply did not originally refer to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/eve-is-a-figure-for-the-soul-that-each-human-should-love-the/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [I believe that nothing comes of nothing, even in Shakespeare. I wanted to know where he got the matter he was working with and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/i-believe-that-nothing-comes-of-nothing-even-in-shakespeare-i-wanted/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [I think the writing of literature should give pleasure. What else should it be about? It is not nuclear physics. It actually has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/i-think-the-writing-of-literature-should-give-pleasure-what-else/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [There's a huge amount of work on Adam and Eve, from the ancient world to the present. Saint Augustine was obsessed with them.I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/there-s-a-huge-amount-of-work-on-adam-and-eve-from-the-ancient-world/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [I'm not spitting in my own soup, I love having spent my life thinking about these things-but you don't have to know anything about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/i-m-not-spitting-in-my-own-soup-i-love-having-spent-my-life-thinking/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [But I never listen to music while I'm writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/but-i-never-listen-to-music-while-i-m-writing/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [“The quintessential emblem of religion — and the clearest manifestation of the perversity that lies at its core — is the sacrifice of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/the-quintessential-emblem-of-religion-and-the-clearest-manifestation/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [No special writing rituals. And my desk is usually cluttered.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/no-special-writing-rituals-and-my-desk-is-usually-cluttered/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [Compared to the unleashed forces of warfare and of faith, Mount Vesuvius was kinder to the legacy of antiquity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/compared-to-the-unleashed-forces-of-warfare-and-of-faith-mount/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [“you needed only to comprehend that there is a hidden natural explanation for everything that alarms or eludes you. That explanation will inevitably lead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/you-needed-only-to-comprehend-that-there-is-a-hidden-natural/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [“Libraries, museums, and schools are fragile institutions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/libraries-museums-and-schools-are-fragile-institutions/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [A couple of years ago I picked up New Yorker writer Alma Guillermoprieto's "The Heart That Bleeds," which is reportage from Latin America in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/a-couple-of-years-ago-i-picked-up-new-yorker-writer-alma/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [“I am committed by trade to urging people to attend carefully to the verbal surfaces of what they read. Much of the pleasure and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/i-am-committed-by-trade-to-urging-people-to-attend-carefully-to-the/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [Art always penetrates the particular fissures in one's psychic life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/art-always-penetrates-the-particular-fissures-in-one-s-psychic-life/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

> [ When I was quite young I came across a collection of \[Franz\] Kafka stories and read "The Judgment." I was just floored by that… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/when-i-was-quite-young-i-came-across-a-collection-of-franz-kafka/)

[Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/)

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