Quotes About Muses

Inspiration is the windfall from hard work and focus. Muses are too unreliable to keep on the payroll.

There is also a third kind of madness, which is possession by the Muses, enters into a delicate and virgin soul, and there inspiring frenzy, awakens lyric....But he, who, not being inspired and having no touch of madness in his soul, comes to the door and thinks he will get into the temple by the help of art--he, I say, and his poetry are not admitted; the sane man is nowhere at all when he enters into rivalry with the madman.

He who approaches the temple of the Muses without inspiration, in the belief that craftsmanship alone suffices, will remain a bungler and his presumptuous poetry will be obscured by the songs of the maniacs.

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.

Some say there are nine Muses. Count again. Behold the tenth: Sappho of Lesbos.

The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups. A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.

Muses work all day long," said Ruth. "And then at night get together and dance.

On a dark theme I trace verses full of light, touching all the muses' charm.

What I've learned is that the muses' decision to sing or not to sing is not based on the elevation of your moral purpose— they will sing or not, regardless.

May my life someday be so limpid that the Muses will deign to mirror themselves in it and that we can see the reflections of their smiles and their dances skimming across its surface.

The number of guests at dinner should not be less than the number of the Graces nor exceed that of the Muses, i.e., it should begin with three and stop at nine.

Writing sometimes feels frivolous and sometimes sacred, but memory is one of my strongest muses. I serve her with my words. So long as people read, those we love survive however evanescently. As do we writers, saying with our life's work, Remember . Remember us. Remember me.

Não há futuro sem memória. Por isso os antigos chamaram à Memória a mãe de todas as musas. O espaço cercado das cidades actuais, na sua azáfama diária, no seu trânsito caótico, nos seus eixos projectados para a periferia, parece ter consumido, portas dentro, os próprios ecos do passado recente.

It's only very recently that women have succeeded in entering those professions which, as Muses, they typified for the Greeks.

Grey time-worn marbles Hold the pure Muses. In their cool gallery, By yellow Tiber, They still look fair.

Follow your muses instead of trying to solve the social wounds of your adolescence. We've lost a whole generation of people who are dealing with their environment by retreating, by going into therapy. So instead, you go to open mic at a crummy tavern and perform your art. Rather than being introspective and constantly working on your shortcomings, get angry, get excited, get social.