#muses

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. ↗

— Marcus Terentius Varro

#dinner #exceed #graces #guests #i

The boys were amazed that I could make such a poem as that out of my own head, and so was I, of course, it being as much a surprise to me as it could be to anybody, for I did not know that it was in me. If any had asked me a single day before if it was in me, I should have told them frankly no, it was not. That is the way with us; we may go on half of our life not knowing such a thing is in us, when in reality it was there all the time, and all we needed was something to turn up that would call for it. ↗

— Mark Twain

#inspiration #muses #poetry #unexpected #inspirational

I go to books and to nature as the bee goes to a flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey. ↗

— John Burroughs

#muses #reading #inspirational

I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It's totally for myself. I never in my wildest dreams expected this popularity. ↗

— J. K. Rowling

#dreams #expected #i #i write #just

I kept reaching for my muses, my wandering muses, floating on clouds filled with their passions.” (Muses of Wandering Passions, p. 64) ↗

— Chimnese Davids

#life #love #muses #passion #understanding

(...) The new nine muses, Commerce, Operatic Music, Amor, Publicity, Manufacture, Liberty of Specch, Plural Voting, Gastronomy, Private Hygiene, Seaside Concert Entertainments, Painless Obstetrics and Astronomy for the People. ↗

— James Joyce

#muses #music #opera #ulysses #music

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

— Buddha

#any #found #good #groups #like

Even at our birth, death does but stand aside a little. And every day he looks towards us and muses somewhat to himself whether that day or the next he will draw nigh. ↗

— Robert Bolt

#aside #birth #day #does #draw

The most astonishing joy is to receive from the muses the gift of a whole lyric. ↗

— James Broughton

#gift #joy #lyric #most #muses

I have always believed that opera is a planet where the muses work together, join hands and celebrate all the arts. ↗

— Franco Zeffirelli

#arts #believed #celebrate #hands #i