Quotes About Inspiration

No, the fault lies with the artists," Claire went on. "The writers, the singers, the tellers of tales. It's them that take the past and re-create it to their liking. Them that could take a fool and give you back a hero, take a sot and make him a king.

It was not Monsieur Arouet, but a colleague of his—a lady novelist—who remarked to me once that writing novels was a cannibal's art, in which one often mixed small portions of one's friends and one's enemies together, seasoned them with imagination, and allowed the whole to stew together into a savory concoction.

But just then, for that fraction of time, it seems as though all things are possible. You can look across the limitations of your own life, and see that they are really nothing.

Ye always carry your women wi' ye into battle, Ian Òg. They're the root of your strength, man.

Being in a state of grace is all very well, but I imagine even Joan of Arc had qualms when they lit the first brand.

Una dama novelista me dijo una vez, que escribir novelas era arte de caníbales, pues uno mezcla con frecuencia pequeñas porciones de sus amigos y sus enemigos, los sazona con imaginación y permite que todo eso se cocine en un sabroso guiso

make a difference? An instant's panic, as she tried to visualize

One of my mother's friends was an artist. He showed me a few things – though warning me that to become an artist was the only certain way to starve.

The simple act of writing Fraser's name had given him a sense of connexion, and he realized that the desperate need for such connexion was what had driven him to write it.

You don't need to know the purpose as you write, but when you read over something you've written, you should be able to point to any given element—be that a line of dialogue, a descriptive phrase, a plot point—and say why it's there.

writing novels was a cannibal's art, in which one often mixed small portions of one's friends and one's enemies together, seasoned them with imagination, and allowed the whole to stew together into a savory concoction.

I am deeply indebted to many people who have shared their love of and insights into these remarkable books with me over the years, none more than Jessica Matthews of George Mason University.

Are some people destined for a great fate, or to do great things? Or is it only that they're born somehow with that great passion—and if they find themselves in the right circumstances, then things happen? It's the sort of thing you wonder, studying history Ã¢â'¬Â¦ 

There is something about that that appealed most strongly to me. 'An eminently useful life.' She smiled at me. 'I could think of many worse epitaphs than that, milady.

heads that edged the huge fireplace, and I

The story detailed all of his works, and then concluded in these words—'And so he died, at the conclusion of an eminently useful life, and thus obtained his crown in Paradise.' " She paused, flexing her hands lightly on her knees. "There was something about that that appealed most strongly to me. 'An eminently useful life.' " She smiled at me. "I could think of many worse epitaphs than that, milady.

like that! Here

What I wonder about the dreams is—all the new inventions people think up—how many of those things are made by people like me—like us? How many "inventions" are really memories, of the things we once knew? And—how many of us are there?

When I decided that I should have a female character, I simply introduced her, knowing nothing about her other than the fact that she was an Englishwoman. ... Whereupon Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp promptly took over the story and began telling it herself. Being in no position to argue with her, I took the path of least resistance, and went along to see what would happen next.

But it was something to do with the paintings Ã¢â'¬Â¦

I don't," he said bluntly. "But I saw that fiction"—he pronounced the word gingerly, as though it were something dangerous—"is perhaps not, as I had thought, merely an inducement to idleness and wicked fancy.

Once I became more famous, I was proud that people in Asia started to look towards me.

Hopefully I can do well and I hope tennis can get bigger in Japan and Asia. That's my goal.

There isn't a traditional background of Asian women playing sport, but that's changing.