Muse Quotes - Page 2

• 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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• I go forth to seek To seek and claim the lovely magic garden Where grasses softly sigh and Muses speak.

  Anna Akhmatova

  Garden, Lovely, Magic

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• Muse. Mu-se. It's a great thing, for someone to feel that they can draw inspiration from you. And I don't think it's necessarily a man 'taking' from a woman. It can go both ways, both can stimulate, excite.

  Chloe Sevigny

  Inspiration, Men, Thinking

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• There is no architect
  Can build as the Muse can;
  She is skilful to select
  Materials for her plan.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Art, Architect

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2015). “Poems”, p.150, The Floating Press

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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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• The most important thing is insight, that is to be - curious - to wonder, to mull, and to muse why it is that man does what he does.

  William Faulkner

  Science, Technology, Men

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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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• I would especially like to re-court the Muse of poetry, who ran off with the mailman four years ago, and drops me only a scribbled postcard from time to time.

  John Updike

  Years, Poetry, Four

  New York Times, April 7, 1968.

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• Never forget that the nurturing and preservation of your own muse is job one. Lose it and you may be losing a great deal.

  Robert Genn

  Jobs, May, Losing

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• A ratio of failures is built into the process of writing. The wastebasket has evolved for a reason. Think of it as the altar of the Muse Oblivion, to whom you sacrifice your botched first drafts, the tokens of your human imperfection.

  Margaret Atwood

  Writing, Sacrifice, Thinking

  Margaret Atwood (2006). “Writing with Intent: Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose: 1983-2005”, p.107, Basic Books

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

  Sarah Ban Breathnach

  Passion, Instinct, Guides

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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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• You know, it’s the same thing as the question of free will and destiny, the question of creativity - you, the artist, you’re not the puppet of the piano, you’re not the puppet of the muse, but you’re not its master, either. It’s a relationship, it’s a conversation, and all it wants is to be treated with respect and dignity - and it will return ten thousand times over.

  Elizabeth Gilbert

  Creativity, Artist, Destiny

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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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• All men owe honor to the poets - honor and awe; for they are dearest to the Muse who puts upon their lips the ways of life.

  Homer

  Men, Honor, Way

  Homer (1998). “The Odyssey: The Fitzgerald Translation”, p.131, Macmillan

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• I'm not in control of my muse. My muse does all the work.

  Ray Bradbury

  Doe

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• If we are transparent, with nothing to hide, the gap between language and being disappears. Then the Muse can speak.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Gaps, Language, Speak

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.30, Penguin

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• I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. ... I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories - science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.

  Ray Bradbury

  Mean, Wrestling, Hysteria

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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 adventure of composition is a mystery. The muse has her ways, she hides from you, comes for you in the middle of the night, at midday, at dawn. You must believe wholeheartedly in this divine power. Its an elusive gift that can appear at any time, anywhere. Artists are in awe of it.

  Mickey Hart

  Believe, Adventure, Artist

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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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• Each of the Arts whose office is to refine, purify, adorn, embellish and grace life is under the patronage of a Muse, no god being found worthy to preside over them.

  Eliza Farnham

  Art, Office, Grace

  Eliza Wood Farnham (1864). “Woman and Her Era”, p.122

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• I think of mythology as the homeland of the muses, the inspirers of art, the inspirers of poetry. To see life as a poem and yourself participating in a poem is what the myth does for you.

  Joseph Campbell

  Art, Thinking, Doe

  Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers (2011). “The Power of Myth”, p.65, Anchor

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• O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!

  William Shakespeare

  Fire, Heaven, Kingdoms

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

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• I’m only able to write poetry, for the most part, when I have a Muse, a woman who focuses the world for me.

  May Sarton

  Writing, World, Able

  May Sarton, Earl G. Ingersoll (1991). “Conversations with May Sarton”, p.118, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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