Just an odd note on Shakespeare—adding Nietzsche also:
I put off reading both for a very long time. I had read S's sonnets many times, but other than a couple of his plays read in high school, I'd avoided the plays. And I avoided N. mostly because a high school friend was fond of quoting him and I was a little annoyed/suspicious.
But I'm glad I did wait, for both. I've been working from a hypothesis, ever since, that both should be avoided until around the age of 35. This is only because I know that, for myself, knowing myself, way too much would have been misread or overlooked by me if I'd attempted either while in my 20s or younger.
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