Muse Quotes - Page 3

• 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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• I want the principles of a timeless muse, I want to eradicate my negative views.

  Lou Reed

  Philosophy, Views, Principles

  Song: New Sensations

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• A successful artist is inspired by his muse, and his muse is inspired by the payment of a commission.

  Robert Breault

  Successful, Artist, Inspired

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• True muses stay dreams forever unless artists connect them to exploratory work.

  Robert Genn

  Dream, Artist, Forever

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• To me the Muses truly gave / An envied and a happy lot: / E'en when I lie within the grave, / I cannot, shall not, be forgot.

  Sappho

  Lying, Poet, Immortality

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• When the muse hits me, or the mood, or whatever it is, I get my guitar out and I empty it out. I just start going through things to see what's going to happen.

  Lucinda Williams

  Guitar, Empty, Mood

  Interview with Madeleine Schwartz, believermag.com. July 1, 2012.

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• If anyone comes to the gates of poetry and expects to become an adequate poet by acquiring expert knowledge of the subject without the Muses' madness, he will fail, and his self-controlled verses will be eclipsed by the poetry of men who have been driven out of their minds.

  Plato

  Men, Self, Mind

  Plato, C. D. C. Reeve (2012). “A Plato Reader: Eight Essential Dialogues”, p.231, Hackett Publishing

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• The professional will not tolerate disorder... He wants the carpet vacuumed and the threshold swept, so the Muse may enter and not soil her gown.

  Steven Pressfield

  Order, May, Want

  Steven Pressfield (2002). “The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles”, p.77, Black Irish Entertainment LLC

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• We stalk the truth as poets, sensualists, a duality, limited insanity. We labor in our muse, carving alphabets of experience into our hearts.

  Masiela Lusha

  Heart, Insanity, Alphabet

  Source: thecelebritycafe.com

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• Why does my muse only speak when she is uhnhappy? She does not, I only listen when I am unhappy.

  Stevie Smith

  Unhappy, Doe, Speak

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• The muse is not an angelic voice that sits on your shoulder and sings sweetly. The muse is the most annoying whine. The muse isn't hard to find, just hard to like - she follows you everywhere, tapping you on the shoulder, demanding that you stop doing whatever else you might be doing and pay attention to her.

  Harlan Coben

  Voice, Attention, Might

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• My ultimate search has been for a muse.

  Dominic Monaghan

  Has Beens, Ultimate

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• A full Belly makes a dull Brain: The Muses starve in a Cook's Shop.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Food, Brain, Dull

  Benjamin Franklin, Ormond Seavey (1998). “Autobiography and Other Writings”, p.285, Oxford University Press, USA

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• When inspiration does not come, I go for a walk, go to the movie, talk to a friend, let go... The muse is bound to return again, especially if I turn my back!

  Judy Collins

  Letting Go, Inspiration, Return

  "Wise Highs: How to Thrill, Chill, & Get Away from It All Without Alcohol or Other Drugs" by Alex J. Packer, (p. 213), 2006.

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• You're going to be unemployed if you really think you just have to sit around and wait for the muse to land on your shoulder.

  Nora Roberts

  Thinking, Land, Waiting

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• The muse on my shoulder is very sensitive and does not abide claptrap of any kind... Only when I am totally immersed... absorbed in work... does she allow something magical to happen and I become aware of a faint heartbeat and gentle breath emanating from my brush.

  Catherine Stock

  Doe, Kind, Heartbeat

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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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• No one ever gets talker's block. No one wakes up in the morning, discovers he has nothing to say, and sits quietly, for days or weeks, until the muse hits, until the moment is right, until all the craziness in his life has died down.

  Seth Godin

  Morning, Block, Wake Up

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• We know the human mind is programmed to glaze over when bored. Conversely, the mind is more alert in the presence of novelty. Our muse needs to stay seductive to keep our hands doing the right things.

  Robert Genn

  Hands, Bored, Seductive

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• The Muse gave the Greeks genius and the art of the well-turned phrase.

  Horace

  Art, Greek, Genius

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• If a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the Muses, believing that technique alone will make him a good poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman.

  Socrates

  Inspirational, Depression, Believe

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• My self . . . is a dramatic ensemble. Here a prophetic ancestor makes his appearance. Here a brutal hero shouts. Here an alcoholic bon vivant argues with a learned professor. Here a lyric muse, chronically love-struck, raises her eyes to heaven. Her papa steps forward, uttering pedantic protests. Here the indulgent uncle intercedes. Here the aunt babbles gossip. Here the maid giggles lasciviously. And I look upon it all with amazement, the sharpened pen in my left hand.

  Paul Klee

  Uncles, Hero, Eye

  Paul Klee, Felix Klee (1968). “The Diaries of Paul Klee, 1898-1918”, p.177, Univ of California Press

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• It can pay off, being a hack. Given the depraved state of American culture, a slick dude can make millions being a hack. But even if you succeed, you lose, because you’ve sold out your Muse, and your Muse is you, the best part of yourself, where your finest and only true work comes from.

  Steven Pressfield

  Succeed, Culture, Pay

  "The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles". Book by Steven Pressfield, 2002.

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• I think being consistent is really important. In the arts there's a misconception that you sit around waiting for the muse to come, and that it's all really mystical and mysterious. In reality, sometimes you have to fake it till you make it.

  Ayana Mathis

  Art, Reality, Thinking

  "Twelve Tribes of Hattie Author Ayana Mathis Talks Fiction, Family, and (Sometimes) Faking It". Interview with Meredith Turits, www.glamour.com. December 17, 2012.

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• Muse is a tyrant. It gets you out of bed in the twilight of the morning and forces you to create something!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Morning, Twilight, Tyrants

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