Muse Quotes

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  I am my own muse. I am the subject I know best. The subject I want to better.

  Frida Kahlo

  Want, Subjects, My Own

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• A muse can be a mirror: a reflection of the artist's desires, anxieties, dreams and needs.

  Vince Aletti

  Dream, Artist, Reflection

  7 Copy quote

• Express your creativity. Delight in the mystery of your inner muse.

  Cheryl Richardson

  Creativity, Delight, Mystery

  15 Copy quote

• Muses work all day long and then at night get together and dance.

  Edgar Degas

  Night, Long, Together

  33 Copy quote

• Cheat your landlord if you can -- and must -- but do not try to shortchange the Muse.

  William S. Burroughs

  Change, Trying, Cheat

  William S Burroughs (2012). “The Western Lands”, p.10, Penguin UK

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• Once you start being a muse, you cannot stop being a muse.

  Carine Roitfeld

  37 Copy quote

• Perversity is the muse of modern literature.

  Susan Sontag

  Literature, Modern, Perversity

  1966 Against Interpretation,'Camus' Notebooks'.

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• There are, it seems, two muses: The Muse of Inspiration, who gives us inarticulate visions and desires, and the Muse of Realization, who returns again and again to say, 'It is yet more difficult than you thought.' It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.

  Wendell Berry

  Real, Inspiration, Journey

  "Poetry and Marriage: The Use of Old Forms". 1982.

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• There is no place for grief in a house which serves the Muse.

  Sappho

  Grief, House, Paganism

  35 Copy quote

• Let passion be your muse. Let her guide and teach you to trust your instincts.

  Sarah Ban Breathnach

  Passion, Instinct, Guides

  3 Copy quote

• The Muse visits during the process of creation, not before.

  Roger Ebert

  Creation, Process

  9 Copy quote

• A female friend, amiable, clever, and devoted, is a possession more valuable than parks and palaces; and without such a muse, few men can succeed in life, none be contented.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Friends, Clever, Men

  47 Copy quote

• The muses are ghosts, and sometimes they come uninvited.

  Stephen King

  Ghost, Sometimes, Uninvited

  Stephen King (1999). “Bag Of Bones: A Novel”, p.430, Simon and Schuster

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• Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too. If she doesn’t show up invited, eventually she just shows up

  Isabel Allende

  Writing, Shows

  "Why We Write: 20 Acclaimed Authors on How and Why They Do What They Do". Book by Meredith Maran, 2013.

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• A cheerful life is what the Muses love. A soaring spirit is their prime delight.

  William Wordsworth

  Cheerful, Delight, Spirit

  William Wordsworth (1848). “The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth: Together with a Description of the Country of the Lakes in the North of England”, p.186

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• When I'm writing, I write. And then it's as if the muse is convinced that I'm serious and says, 'Okay. Okay. I'll come.'

  Maya Angelou

  Writing, Serious, Okay

  "Famous Writers Share How They Handle Writer’s Block" by Jeryl Brunner, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 29, 2015.

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• Don't be different just for different's sake. If you see it differently, function that way. Follow your own muse, always.

  Morgan Freeman

  Different, Sake, Way

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• The muse whispers to you when she chooses, and you can't tell her to come back later, because you quickly learn in this business that she might not come back at all.

  Terry Brooks

  Writing, Might

  Terry Brooks (2003). “Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life”, p.14, Del Rey

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• Fool," said my muse to me. "Look in thy heart and write.

  Philip Sidney

  Writing, Heart, Looks

  'Astrophel and Stella' (1591) sonnet 1

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• O! for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention.

  William Shakespeare

  Fire, Heaven, Invention

  'Henry V' (1599) chorus, l. 1

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• Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long / To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?

  William Shakespeare

  Art, Long, Giving

  William Shakespeare (2014). “Arden Shakespeare Complete Works”, p.34, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story

  Robert Fitzgerald

  Stories

  Mary Zimmerman, Robert Fitzgerald (2006). “The Odyssey: A Play”

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• Art is the extended arm of your imagination, The feast of inspiration for your muse. Art isn't just creativity, its a way of life.

  Sarah Curran

  Art, Inspiration, Creativity

  4 Copy quote

• The most potent muse of all is our own inner child.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Children, Creativity, Imagination

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.47, Penguin

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• Visual tonics such as 'timed creativity' need to be introduced to refresh and refurbish the muse.

  Robert Genn

  Creativity, Needs, Visuals

  9 Copy quote