„No one gains anything from me reading a book.“

Claire was interested in studying literature, she might finally learn Russian, but it's not a job, since no one gains anything from her reading a book.

Studying humanities really consists in writing about what you read, not in reading itself. A professor doesn't get paid to read, but to write, lecture, teach. You could work in publishing, publish books, translate. The intellectuals you admire were only students at one point, too. 

Sure, only a small fraction of people in general really care about intellectual topics, but those few people actually add up to a lot of people, in one country, in the whole world, depending on the language you write in or write about. Literature or philosophy is not about quantity anyway. 

Every job is limited to a certain group. A doctor works for people in his area, a lawyer is limited to his area, someone who works for a car manufacturer only works for people who want to buy that particular kind of car.

I didn't say anything, but I thought about it afterwards.