---
title: "3 Imaginative Quotes By Harold Bloom"
description: "3 Imaginative quotes by Harold Bloom. Plus more from Harold Bloom and more Imaginative sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff4/harold-bloom-3350_books_people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i_343418.png"
---

> [“People cannot stand the saddest truth I know about the very nature of reading and writing imaginative literature, which is that poetry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i-know-about-the-very-nature-of/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff4/harold-bloom-3350_books_people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i_343418.png)

> [People cannot stand the saddest truth I know about the very nature of reading and writing imaginative literature, which is that poetry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i-know-about-the-very-nature-of-2/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b9/harold-bloom-3350_doe_people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i_1632166.png)

> [ “\[...\] imaginative literature situates itself somewhere between truth and meaning \[...\]” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/imaginative-literature-situates-itself-somewhere-between-truth-and/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1b/harold-bloom-3350_art_imaginative-literature-situates-itself-s_1829866.png)

## Other authors on Imaginative

- [Roman Payne 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative/roman-payne/)
- [Ralph Waldo Emerson 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative/ralph-waldo-emerson/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b019/author-oscar-wilde-72846.jpg) Oscar Wilde 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative/oscar-wilde/)

## More by 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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/i-realized-early-on-that-the-academy-and-the-literary-world-alike-and/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [I would say that there is no future for literary studies as such in the United States.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/i-would-say-that-there-is-no-future-for-literary-studies-as-such-in/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [“Brecht was a cynical bohemian bogey of the middle classes, but also much more than a mere provocateur. He developed and dramatized his political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/brecht-was-a-cynical-bohemian-bogey-of-the-middle-classes-but-also/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [The morality of scholarship, as currently practiced, is to encourage everyone to replace difficult pleasures by pleasures universally accessible precisely because they are easier.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/the-morality-of-scholarship-as-currently-practiced-is-to-encourage/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [Dark influences from the American past congregate among us still. If we are a democracy, what are we to make of the palpable elements…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/dark-influences-from-the-american-past-congregate-among-us-still-if/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [“We read frequently if unknowingly, in quest of a mind more original than our own.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/we-read-frequently-if-unknowingly-in-quest-of-a-mind-more-original/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [“You can read merely to pass the time, or you can read with an overt urgency, but eventually you will read against the clock.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/you-can-read-merely-to-pass-the-time-or-you-can-read-with-an-overt/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [In the finest critics one hears the full cry of the human. They tell one why it matters to read.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/in-the-finest-critics-one-hears-the-full-cry-of-the-human-they-tell/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [The idea of Herman Melville in a writing class is always distressing to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/the-idea-of-herman-melville-in-a-writing-class-is-always-distressing/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [If I were to sum up the negative reactions to my work, I think there are two primary causes: one is that if there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/if-i-were-to-sum-up-the-negative-reactions-to-my-work-i-think-there/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [Aesthetic value emanates from the struggle between texts: in the reader, in language, in the classroom, in arguments within a society. Aesthetic value rises…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/aesthetic-value-emanates-from-the-struggle-between-texts-in-the/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [Shakespeare will not make us better, and he will not make us worse, but he may teach us how to overhear ourselves when we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/shakespeare-will-not-make-us-better-and-he-will-not-make-us-worse-but/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [Criticism starts - it has to start - with a real passion for reading. It can come in adolescence, even in your twenties, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/criticism-starts-it-has-to-start-with-a-real-passion-for-reading-it/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [“No one has yet managed to be post-Shakespearean.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/no-one-has-yet-managed-to-be-post-shakespearean/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

> [What is supposed to be the very essence of Judaism - which is the notion that it is by study that you make yourself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/what-is-supposed-to-be-the-very-essence-of-judaism-which-is-the/)

[Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative/harold-bloom/#itemlist",
            "name": "3 Imaginative Quotes By Harold Bloom",
            "numberOfItems": 3,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“People cannot stand the saddest truth I know about the very nature of reading and writing imaginative literature, which is that poetry does not teach us how to talk to other people: it teaches us how to talk to ourselves.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Harold Bloom"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i-know-about-the-very-nature-of/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff4/harold-bloom-3350_books_people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i_343418.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff4/harold-bloom-3350_books_people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i_343418.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff4/harold-bloom-3350_books_people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i_343418.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“People cannot stand the saddest truth I know about the very nature of reading and writing imaginative…” — Harold Bloom",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "People cannot stand the saddest truth I know about the very nature of reading and writing imaginative literature, which is that poetry does not teach us how to talk to other people: it teaches us how to talk to ourselves. What I'm desperately trying to do is to get students to talk to themselves as though they are indeed themselves, and not someone else.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Harold Bloom"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i-know-about-the-very-nature-of-2/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b9/harold-bloom-3350_doe_people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i_1632166.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b9/harold-bloom-3350_doe_people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i_1632166.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b9/harold-bloom-3350_doe_people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i_1632166.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“People cannot stand the saddest truth I know about the very nature of reading and writing imaginative…” — Harold Bloom",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“[...] imaginative literature situates itself somewhere between truth and meaning [...]”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Harold Bloom"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/imaginative-literature-situates-itself-somewhere-between-truth-and/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1b/harold-bloom-3350_art_imaginative-literature-situates-itself-s_1829866.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1b/harold-bloom-3350_art_imaginative-literature-situates-itself-s_1829866.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1b/harold-bloom-3350_art_imaginative-literature-situates-itself-s_1829866.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“[...] imaginative literature situates itself somewhere between truth and meaning [...]” — Harold Bloom",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative/harold-bloom/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative/harold-bloom/",
            "name": "Imaginative Quotes by Harold Bloom",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative/harold-bloom/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff4/harold-bloom-3350_books_people-cannot-stand-the-saddest-truth-i_343418.png"
            },
            "description": "3 Imaginative quotes by Harold Bloom. Plus more from Harold Bloom and more Imaginative sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative/harold-bloom/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative/harold-bloom/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Imaginative",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Harold Bloom",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative/harold-bloom/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```