“Read deeply, not to believe, not to accept, not to contradict, but to learn to share in that one nature that writes and reads.”

—  Harold Bloom, book How to Read and Why

Source: How to Read and Why

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Read deeply, not to believe, not to accept, not to contradict, but to learn to share in that one nature that writes and…" by Harold Bloom?
Harold Bloom photo
Harold Bloom13
American literary critic and scholar 1930–2019

Related quotes

Eudora Welty photo

“Indeed, learning to write may be part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading.”

Eudora Welty (1909–2001) American author

Source: On Writing

Natalie Goldberg photo

“Read a lot, listen well and deeply, and write a lot. […] If you read good books, when you write, good books will come out of you.”

Natalie Goldberg book Writing Down the Bones

Essay, "Listening". p.59
Writing Down the Bones (1986)

“It is a general observation that people write as they read. As a rule, careful writers are careful readers and vice versa. A careful writer wants to be read carefully. He cannot know what it means to be read carefully but by having done careful reading himself. Reading precedes writing. We read before we write. We learn to write by reading. A man learns to write well by reading well good books, by reading most carefully books which are most carefully written.”

Leo Strauss book Persecution and the Art of Writing

Source: Persecution and the Art of Writing (1952), How to Study Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, p. 144

“Read history. That’s it. Read history. Read and read and read in both primary and secondary sources. Learn to evaluate and compare. And then… write. Writing will be the hardest thing you ever do. But it’s the goal— write about the past and how we see it.”

Christian Desaix

Source: https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-become-historian-without-studying-history-in-University

William Faulkner photo

“That's a very good way to learn the craft of writing — from reading.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

Faulkner in the University, p. 117
Faulkner in the University (1959)

Francis Bacon photo

“Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Studies
Essays (1625)

Ralph Waldo Emerson photo

“One must be an inventor to read well. There is then creative reading as well as creative writing.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Variant: There is creative reading as well as creative writing.

Matt Groening photo

“I can't believe it! Reading and writing actually paid off!”

Matt Groening (1954) American cartoonist

Barbara Kingsolver photo

“I learned to write by reading the kind of books I wished I'd written.”

Barbara Kingsolver (1955) American author, poet and essayist

Related topics