Frida Kahlo
Painter
"I am my own muse. I am the subject I know best. The subject I want to better."
Muse quotes
Muse
108 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Isabel Allende
Novelist
"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"
Susan Sontag
Essayist, Critic, Activist
"Perversity is the muse of modern literature."
William S. Burroughs
Writer
"Cheat your landlord if you can -- and must -- but do not try to shortchange the Muse."
William Shakespeare
Playwright, Poet
"O! for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention."
Explore further
Topics related to Muse
Browse quotes that often appear alongside muse — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Muse quotes (page 1 of 6)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"To me the Muses truly gave / An envied and a happy lot: / E'en when I lie within the grave, / I cannot, shall not, be forgot."
Read quote
16 likes
"The muses are ghosts, and sometimes they come uninvited."
Read quote
15 likes
"When I was from Cupid's passions free, my Muse was mute and wrote no elegy."
Read quote
10 likes
"Clio may be the most austere and chaste of the Muses, but she has been known to come down informally from Mount Helicon in a mood so raffish that there are those who claim to have seen her with her slip showing."
Read quote
9 likes
"Nothing which is harmonized by the bond of the Muse can be changed from its own to another language without destroying its sweetness"
Read quote
8 likes
"I don't know if you actually get something out of writing poetry. I think poetry is an autonomous muse that decides to come and sit on your couch."
Read quote
8 likes
"To feed your Muse, then, you should always have been hungry about life since you were a child. If not, it is a little late to start."
Read quote
8 likes
"I'm not in control of my muse. My muse does all the work."
Read quote
8 likes
"Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story"
Read quote
8 likes
"When I'm writing, I write. And then it's as if the muse is convinced that I'm serious and says, 'Okay. Okay. I'll come.'"
Read quote
8 likes
"What is The Subconscious to every other man, in its creative aspect becomes, for writers, The Muse."
Read quote
7 likes
"My Muse sits forlorn She wishes she had not been born She sits in the cold No word she says is ever told."
Read quote
7 likes
"It's hard to act in the morning. The muse isn't even awake."
Read quote
7 likes
"I attempt to connect with my muse and go on demon rides."
Read quote
7 likes
"Christianity is merely a system for turning priestesses into handmaidens, queens into concubines, and goddesses into muses."
Read quote
6 likes
"[My muse] she's impatient with me, because I don't do what I should do: sit down and write."
Read quote
6 likes
"You should treat a muse like a fairy."
Read quote
5 likes
"In spite of its romantic frisson, the position of muse is very vague and largely thankless for the muse herself."
Read quote
4 likes
"I was Versace's muse, I was Valentino's muse, I was Alaia's muse, Lancetti's muse, Calvin Klein's, Halston's. I could go on and on."
Read quote
4 likes
"Some thoughtlessly proclaim the Muses nine: A tenth is Sappho, maid divine."
Read quote
3 likes