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Inspiration Quotes

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Inspiration Quotes

“Don't loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club, and if you don't get it you will nonetheless get something that looks remarkably like it.”

Ifs Writing Looks Light Inspiration Clubs Invites

Book:No Mentor But Myself: Jack London on Writers and Writing

Source: No Mentor But Myself: Jack London on Writers and Writing

“A lot of young writers wait for inspiration. The inspiration only hits you at the desk.”

Writing Inspiration Young Waiting Desks Young Writers

Author:Robert Anderson

“This Book had to be written by one of three people: good men, bad men or God. It couldn't have been written by good men because they said it was inspired by the revelation of God. Good men don't lie and deceive. It couldn't have been written by bad men because bad men would not write something that would condemn themselves. It leaves only one conclusion. It was given by divine inspiration of God.”

People Men Writing Has Beens Said Book Inspiration Lying Three Given Written Divine Bible Inspired Conclusion Revelations Good Man Deceiving They Said Bad Man Don't Lie Divine Inspiration

Author:John Wesley

“There's a lot of craft in songwriting. The divine inspiration is when the idea comes. It may be a riff. It may be a word. It may be a phrase. It may be a title. Sometimes, in the best of both worlds, that divine inspiration extends through the whole song. I've literally sat down and written a song from beginning to end, almost complete lyrics and everything without ever stopping...in two minutes. The chorus of 'She's Gone' was like that.”

“Well, it grow together. It's like, first time I try to write a song is the first time I try to play the guitar. And so I can write a song without the guitar. But it really grow together. I really like stay with my guitar. But it just happen, is the inspiration come through man. Because, I personally, it look like, could I write a whole heap a tune, it look like. But I pick special tune to write. Cause a man can think of plenty things. Yuh know wah ah mean.”

Thinking Knows Men Writing Trying Firsts Wells Looks Mean I Can Play Whole Inspiration Happens Together Song Grows Causes Special Picks First Time Guitar Plenty Tunes Songwriting

Author:Bob Marley

“Serious writers write, inspired or not. Over time they discover that routine is a better friend than inspiration.”

Writing Inspiration Serious Inspired Routine

Book:The Writer's Book of Hope: Getting from Frustration to Publication

Source: The Writer's Book of Hope: Getting from Frustration to Publication

“The Bible must be the invention of either good men or angels, bad men or devils, or of God. It could not be the invention of good men or angels, for they neither would or could make a book, and tell lies all the time they were writing it, saying, 'Thus saith the Lord,' when it was their own invention. It could not be the invention of bad men or devils, for they would not make a book which commands all duty, forbids all sin, and condemns their souls to hell for all eternity. Therefore, I draw this conclusion, that the Bible must be given by divine inspiration.”

Source: The Works of the Late Reverend John Wesley, A.M.: From the Latest London Edition with the Last Corrections of the Author, Comprehending Also Numerous Translations, Notes, and an Original Preface, Etc

“The songs that I sing and the songs that I write have always just been what I feel my voice does well, and what my inspirations have been and a kind of culmination of everything.”

Feels Writing Wells Kind Doe Has Beens Inspiration Song Voice Culmination

Author:Josh Groban

“I think what gets you through a small writing project, is just one burst of inspiration. A book, especially a longer book, it's a different kind of force that pushes you through it. It's a vision of the whole thing.”

Thinking Writing Kind Book Different Whole Inspiration Force Vision Projects Just One Different Kinds

Author:Alan Lightman

“I'm still happy with the way Einstein's Dreams came out. That book came out of a single inspiration. I really felt like I was not creating the words, that I was hearing the words. That someone else was speaking the words to me and I was just writing them down. It was a very strange experience. That can happen with a short book. I don't think it could happen with a long book.”

Thinking Way Writing Long Stills Book Dream Inspiration Happens Felt Strange Creating Hearing Long Book

Author:Alan Lightman

“My inspiration comes from everywhere, just walking down the street and I never know where it's going to come from, so I keep a notebook with me at all times and the only criteria for anything making it into that notebook is if it stops me in my tracks for even an instant, if it catches my eye or my ear and I just write it down.”

Ifs Knows Writing Inspiration Eye Streets Walking Ears Track All Time Instant Criteria Notebook

Author:Rita Dove

“Black actors on the road, flying around the country working as poets. Those people are inspirations for millions of kids who write.”

People Writing Country Inspiration Kids Actors Black Millions Poet Flying

Author:Russell Simmons

“I like the idea that Ernest Hemingway always wrote about certain things he knew, he knew the ins and outs, back to fronts of what he was talking about. I love that as an inspiration for myself, to keep it true to what you know. I'm always writing little lines and saving them for later.”

Knows Writing Littles Ideas Inspiration Certain Lines Talking Fronts Saving

Author:Imelda May

“It's about being in a race with time - just having a strong sense of mortality, and the idea of, How much time do you have left? How do you want to spend it? What I always come up with is: keep on writing, keep on working. But you can become sterile. It's become a matter of trying to find inspiration someplace outside of my own head, which I've been using exclusively for too long.”

Want Writing Trying Long Ideas Matter Inspiration Left Strong My Own Race Come Up Mortality

Author:Joe Frank

“Alcohol makes other people less tedious, and food less bland, and can help provide what the Greeks called entheos, or the slight buzz of inspiration when reading or writing”

People Writing Helping Inspiration Reading Alcohol Greek Tedious Buzz Bland Reading Or Writing

Book:Hitch 22: A Memoir

Source: Hitch 22: A Memoir

“Don't be didactic - don't write about poverty. Write about poor people. When you dramatize their lives and let life and characters be your inspiration, you will express the 'idea' dynamically and without preaching.”

People Writing Ideas Character Inspiration Poor Poverty Preaching Poor People Didactic

Author:Robert McKee

“A poet has to adapt himself, more or less consciously,to the demands of his vocation, and hence the peculiarities of poets and the condition of inspiration which many people have said is near to madness... The problem of creative writing is essentially one of concentration... a focusing of the attention in a special way.”

People Way Writing Said Problem Inspiration Attention Creative Special Conditions Poet Demand Madness Concentration Vocation Creative Writing

Author:Stephen Spender

“When I'm writing I've been playing something for a couple of hours and I'm almost in a trance. At two or three in the morning you can actually see bits of inspiration floating about and grab them.”

Writing Two Inspiration Three Bits Hours Morning Couple Floating Trance

Author:Kate Bush

“Sometimes I write about my own life. And sometimes I write about situations I see my friends going through. Sometimes I write about a scene I saw in a movie. I take inspiration from all different places.”

Writing Different Sometimes Inspiration My Own Situation Saws Scene My Friends Different Place My Own Life

Author:Taylor Swift

“I think people have a tendency to think of a writer as someone who wants to go take a walk, maybe case a library... I think that's great sometimes but we really treat it like Monday through Friday come in early. You're not late for inspiration. You're working through it no matter what is happening even if you're writing a terrible version.”

People Ifs Thinking Want Writing Sometimes Matter Inspiration Walks Cases Terrible Late Happenings Treats No Matter What Library Versions Tendencies Monday Friday

Author:Roberto Orci

“When I'm in Los Angeles, it's hard to be creative. For me, New Orleans is one of those places that's like a muse. You can hear music on the streets. There's a certain character the city has that inspires you when you're needing to write lyrics and come up with melodies and come up with rhythm and blues. The city has a pulse and it's an inspiration for me.”

Writing Hard Character Inspiration Certain Cities Creative Streets Inspire Come Up Rhythm Los Angeles Melody Muse Be Creative New Orleans Pulse Rhythm And Blues

Author:Chris Thomas King

“To me, music and songwriting is... part of the intriguing thing is the creative process; you know, the creative thought process. Relying on that... there is some sort of inspiration there and you can't always put your finger on where it comes from. So, it's always been important for me to have my own thing and, even though I'm inspired by and influenced by many different musicians and styles of music, I was very determined early on to have my own thing. So when I sit down to write I don't necessarily have a particular narrative or message in mind. I'm interested in language and in words.”

“The writing of You've Got a Friend was one of the most incredible experiences because it was mostly inspiration. It just came to me almost as we hear it.”

Writing Inspiration Incredibles

Author:Carole King

“In the earlier days I did most of the song writing by myself, and I got to a place in my life where I felt it was necessary to go outside my box and get some outside inspiration.”

Writing Inspiration Song Felt Boxes

Author:Jason Wade

“I allude to Back to the Future in the 1985 story to let folks know it was an inspiration and because it literally was the most time-travelly bit of pop culture we had in the mid 80's. I can talk about their tools for considering change. First, the book is metafictive in a traditional sense where I'm showing and telling the reader that the act of writing and reading is a reflexive way to push boundaries of real and literal time travel. Writers and readers are time travellers. The question is what we do with that time we traveled when we leave a book, leave a page.”

“I don't believe in inspiration. I write when I can't avoid writing anymore.”

Writing Believe I Can Inspiration Don't Believe

Author:Aleksandar Hemon

“I think I can work anywhere, but you don't get the same kind of inspiration everywhere. New York theater has become a big inspiration for me. I only started writing for the stage myself because I like to see the good, mostly off-Broadway plays in New York.”

Thinking Writing Kind I Can Play Bigs Inspiration Stage New York Theater Broadway

Author:Daniel Kehlmann

“remember a feeling of excitement, of sudden inspiration, when I was visiting Giovanni Boccaccio's home in the walled village of Certaldo, outside of Florence. (Boccaccio was the medieval author of The Decameron.) It was as though I had met my muse! After this trip, I read The Decameron and began writing the Alchemy Series in earnest.”

Writing Feelings Home Inspiration Remember Mets Series Excitement Village Muse Earnest Medieval Visiting Alchemy Florence

Author:Mary Pope Osborne

“I will watch a ton of movies while I'm writing for inspiration. "Postcards from the Edge" was one. I love the mother-daughter relationship and all the hard humiliating stuff she has to go through. Or thinks she has to go through.”

Thinking Writing Hard Inspiration Mother Stuff Watches Daughter Edges Humiliating Mother Daughter Postcards Mother Daughter Relationship

Author:Zoe Cassavetes

“While I do believe I become a technically better writer over time, in others ways writing gets harder because inspiration is finite.”

Way Writing Believe Inspiration Harder Finite

Author:Steve Erickson

“Writing stretches me to my limits and affirms my potential, all while making me aware of my flaws, my mortality, and how much more I have to learn. It's a singular feeling, both spiritual and corporeal, and I like to think it sparks the same inspiration and curiosity in a child that it does in an old man.”

Thinking Men Writing Children Doe Feelings Inspiration Spiritual Limits Curiosity Flaws Mortality Old Man Sparks

Author:Kit Williamson

“The interesting thing is that, well, here's what I think about songwriters and songs. Sometimes people sit down and say, "I gotta write a song today, I have a title" and all of that, and sometimes inspiration just happens, almost like "Sugar, Sugar" and a couple of the other songs. But basically, I just started playing the piano, and I'm not a great piano player.”

People Thinking Writing Wells Sometimes Inspiration Happens Today Song Interesting Player Couple Down And Titles Piano Sugar Songwriters Interesting Things

Author:Andy Kim

“I mainly get my inspiration for writing from everyday situations and I come up with hypothetical scenarios and I can usually write a lot about that.”

Writing I Can Inspiration Situation Everyday Come Up Scenarios Hypothetical

Author:Thomston

“I love writing to my little sister. It's a very nice, easy kind of way I always find inspiration.”

Way Writing Kind Littles Inspiration Easy Nice Very Nice Little Sister

Author:Jillian Hervey

“I think every writer has their waves of inspiration and their ways of doing things. But writing is very difficult for me. It's something I haven't practiced as diligently as my visual art. I've been doing visual art because I think it's easier for me to construct, whereas words are very difficult.”

Thinking Way Writing Art Inspiration Difficult Havens Easier Art Is Wave Visuals Constructs Visual Art

Author:Chath Piersath

“I find that time constraints actually make me more productive, and "real world" experiences provide a lot of inspiration to write.”

World Writing Real Inspiration Productive Real World Constraints Inspiration To Write

Author:Liza Campbell

“I thought about how to film something, how to take pictures of it and how to mix it all together. And I was getting that through Patti [Smith] - because she takes pictures, performs, writes; she does so many things, and that was a big inspiration to me. It helped me realized that I'm not just a fashion photographer. I wanted to do all these other artistic things as well, and during filming my mind opened up to those possibilities.”

Writing Mind Wells Doe Bigs Inspiration Wanted Together Film Fashion Possibility Photographer Artistic

Author:Steven Sebring

“If I get ideas independently of the act of writing, they never really fit. So for me, there's no hanging out, waiting for inspiration.”

Ifs Writing Ideas Inspiration Waiting Fit Hanging Out

Author:Janet Fitch

“An artist doesn't depend upon inspiration or have to have it. An artist doesn't depend on mood, certainly not if you're earning your living with it. One of the definitions of a professional is you can do some writing if you have to, even in the most extreme situations.”

Ifs Writing Inspiration Artist Can Do Situation Depends Definitions Extremes Mood Earning

Author:Michael Ventura

“My guitar player calls the process of writing lyrics based on another story, "filling up the well" when you can get inspiration from other people's art without stealing, more being influenced by it.”

Writing Art Inspiration Player Stealing Guitar Player

Author:Lydia Loveless

“Keep at something even when you don't feel inspired. Don't wait for inspiration! I write a lot of songs that are terrible, in the hopes that one song that has something special comes out of it. Just stay at something, and write every day if you're writing lyrics.”

Writing Inspiration Song Waiting Special Terrible Inspired

Author:Yukimi Nagano

“Much of my inspiration definitely comes from the human experience. I'm really inspired by love like a lot of people are. My art, my childhood, and changes and transitions in life and how they impact me and cause me to write music.”

People Writing Art Inspiration Childhood Inspired Human Experience

Author:Zella Day

“I love music. I think music is a big inspiration; I listen to it a lot when I'm writing. I really love cinematic music. A lot of the time, I make playlists for my characters when I act. I also make playlists for the scripts that I write.”

Thinking Writing Character Inspiration Music Is I Love Music

Author:Quinn Shephard

“You can learn to write. But what you write is something that depends on your taste and on your vision or whatever. Also, of course, the music I listened to inspired my idea of music. When people ask me "Where's your inspiration? Where does it come from?" I have no idea. Music is about music. Not about life and love.”

People Writing Inspiration Vision Music Is Inspired Ask Me Life And Love

Author:Nils Frahm

“I moved in with my grandma when I was 17 and she had this giant bookshelf and it was fascinating to me. She got me into reading. My grandma is part of the writing community. She's so cute - I went to get breakfast with her out in L.A. and she came in with a giant straw hat and orange jumpsuit. She was always a big inspiration in me in continuing in the arts, whether it was acting or I started to paint. I didn't want to be one of those people that was like, "Oh my dad's an actor, so I'm an actor." It just never works out.”

People Writing Art Inspiration Reading Community Acting Moved Paint Work Out Cute Grandma My Grandma

Author:Christian Madsen

“I think scrin writers like to see how people bring their words to life, and it's always surprising. Always, no matter what, whether it's good or bad, it's always surprising because a whole human being is coming to that piece of writing. And certainly there's inspiration that comes out of that.”

People Thinking Writing Inspiration

Author:Lisa Edelstein

“I procrastinate, and I push writing to the last available moment, because I don't like to settle on anything. I guess you can call it indecision or you can call it holding out for inspiration.”

Writing Moments Inspiration Settling Indecision Procrastinating

Author:Ariel Pink

“I'm doing the best I can with the ravages of time on my body and I'm a work in progress. I can't write a memoir because I can't do it this week or next week... I try to be an inspiration to the young to respect their older people; we can't stay the same, but we do the best we can with what's left. You can't whine about stuff, you have to learn to eat humble pie along the way and keep going, because the alternative is going to happen.”

People Writing Trying Inspiration Progress Week Humble Memoir Keep Going Work In Progress

Author:Carmen Dell'Orefice

“I write like anyone involved with a family and a full time job: in stolen moments. I've had to adapt because I have so little writing time, so I write while dinner bubbles on the stove, and get away to cafes when I can. It is good to have a small laptop to haul around. I wish I could admit to bizarre writing habits, you know, like "I can only write in the presence of my favorite pet elephant, who is my fount of inspiration," but the truth, alas, is far more mundane.”

Writing Moments Inspiration Wish Habit My Favorite Pet Get Away Bubbles Bizarre Mundane

Author:Vandana Singh

“When I'm recording, which is synonymous with writing, I'll play things over and over again until it sounds like I've got the right guitar part. Whereas I think, as the much younger player I tended to do things much more consciously. I didn't wait for the moment where inspiration might strike. That's what I do now. I wait for it to naturally start to replay itself in my mind. As I say, I don't force it. So I like to think of myself as a receiver. I'm a telephone line to who knows where, but until I hear it through that receiver, I don't usually do it. It's got to start writing itself somehow.”

Thinking Writing Mind Moments Inspiration Waiting Player One Line

Author:Steve Hackett