Quotes about inspiration
page 3

“Conditions of misery, suffering, war, and war profiteering were the incentive and inspiration for my work. I was also motivated by the seeming incompetence of governments, the academic world, and a lack of solutions from scientists. Many fail as generalists because of their over-specialization on limited aspects of social problems. Scientists, politicians, and academicians see problems from inside the system they’re in, which is what’s responsible for the problems in the first place. I am disappointed with those who worry about terra-forming other planets while our own is still full of war, poverty, hunger, and environmental neglect.”

Jacque Fresco (1916–2017) American futurist and self-described social engineer

Hunger, War, Suffering, Problem

“I was not a good doctor, my studies had been too rapid, my hospital training too short, but there is not the slightest doubt that I was a successful doctor. What is the secret of success? To inspire confidence. What is confidence?… I do not know, I only know that it cannot be acquired by book reading, nor by the bedside of our patients. It is a magic gift granted by birth-right to one man and denied to another. The doctor who possesses this gift can almost raise the dead.”

Axel Munthe (1857–1949) Swedish physician

Confidence, Study, Reading, Success

“It seems to me that inspiration theoretically enhances one’s ability traversing difficulties as they move toward a goal. The highly inspired, encounter less obstacles and traverse mountains easier than others on their path through life. They appear to view roadblocks and detours as normal life events and in many cases move through them unscathed and undeterred. While the obstacles exist as they would for anyone else, they don’t view them in the same manner.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

Mountain, Life, Appearance

“Thus, if there exists a law which sanctions slavery or monopoly, oppression or robbery, in any form whatever, it must not even be mentioned. For how can it be mentioned without damaging the respect which it inspires? Still further, morality and political economy must be taught from the point of view of this law; from the supposition that it must be a just law merely because it is a law. Another effect of this tragic perversion of the law is that it gives an exaggerated importance to political passions and conflicts, and to politics in general.”

Frédéric Bastiat book The Law

The Law (1850)

Passion, Law

“I have found more peace in the knowledge of truth than anger in the feeling of oppression, and the most precious fruit that I could want to collect in this memoir would be to inspire my readers with that peace of mind arising from the clear perception of evil and its causes.”

Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) French politician, mutualist philosopher, economist, and socialist

Preface
What is Property? (1840)

Peace, Anger, Knowledge, Truth

“There are any number of reasons America emerged from its humble beginnings as a cluster of colonies to become the most prosperous, most powerful nation on earth. There is the hard work, the resilience, and the character of our people. There is the ingenuity and enterprising spirit of our entrepreneurs and innovators. There are the ideals of opportunity, equality, and freedom that have not only inspired our people to perfect our own union, but inspired others to perfect theirs as well. But from the very start, there was also something more. A steadfast commitment to serve, to fight, and if necessary, to die, to preserve America and advance the ideals we cherish. It’s a commitment witnessed at each defining moment along the journey of this country. It’s what led a rag-tag militia to face British soldiers at Lexington and Concord. It’s what led young men, in a country divided half slave and half free, to take up arms to save our union. It’s what led patriots in each generation to sacrifice their own lives to secure the life of our nation, from the trenches of World War I to the battles of World War II, from Inchon and Khe Sanh, from Mosul to Marja.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2010, Weekly Address (May 29, 2010)

Freedom, Country, War, People

“I think it’s necessary. The world creates things up out of prayers that people pray and have. Things begin to move accordingly to how we all collectively think. When you see collectives moving on something you know that there’s going to be some kind of mass migration to a higher place, and I see that in the world as a whole, not just in America. I see it all over the globe. People are organizing and fusing together to make change, and it’s inspiring. I think it’s part of the natural order of things. We’re evolving, and what helps us evolve is social media. Social media is social evolution. It’s sparking a great change.”

Erykah Badu (1971) American neo-soul singer

On her viewpoint regarding the Black Lives Matter movement in “The Queen Speaks: An Interview with Erykah Badu” https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/rq4eqb/erykah-badu-interview-2015 in Vice (2015 Oct 27)

People, Help, Nature, Thinking

“Cock-sure certainty is the source of much that is worst in our present world, and it is something of which the contemplation of history ought to cure us, not only or chiefly because there were wise men in the past, but because so much that was thought wisdom turned out to be folly – which suggests that much of our own supposed wisdom is no better. I do not mean to maintain that we should lapse into a lazy scepticism. We should hold our beliefs, and hold them strongly. Nothing great is achieved without passion, but underneath the passion there should always be that large impersonal survey which sets limits to actions that our passions inspire.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

History as an Art (1954), p. 9
1950s

History, Past, Passion, World

“Die Transvaler is issued with a calling – it comes to serve a volk/people by allowing steadfast and lofty nationalism to resound wherever its voice may reach. From this calling its inspiration will spring. This endeavor will determine its character.”

Hendrik Verwoerd (1901–1966) Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966

People, Spring

“For this companion volume to A New Earth, I selected passages from the original book that felt particularly suitable for inspirational or meditative reading. For this reason I do not recommend that you read this book straight through from cover to cover. It would be far more beneficial to read, at the most, one chapter at a time, stopping at and perhaps rereading whatever passages elicit an inner response. Then let the words sink in and sense the truth to which they point, which is, of course, already within you. It can also be helpful to open the book at random occasionally, read one page or just one passage and let the words point the way to that dimension deep within that is beyond words, beyond thought. The truth to which the words point, the timeless dimension of consciousness, cannot be arrived at through discursive thought and conceptual understanding.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

From The Introduction https://eckharttolle.com/oneness-with-all-life-excerpt/ Oneness With All Life: Inspirational Selections from A New Earth (2008)

Time, Reading, Understanding, Help

“I can find inspiration from the Renaissance to the contemporary artists, but definitely the most influential movement in my career has been Street Art.”

Clandestine Culture (1970) American artist

The importance of Street Art comes from the fact that this art is available to everyone anywhere, is made from any media using any technique. Street Art lets you do whatever you want in the way you want and do it without asking anybody. This freedom is what makes Street Art unique.
http://artdistricts.com/clandestine-culture-between-street-art-and-social-activism/

Art

“I wanted to fuse together my favorite elements of rock and soul singers into something I could call my own. The inflections of Stevie Wonder with the soaring qualities of someone like Buckley. It was his emotional intensity that inspired me more than anything. Also, Jeff came along at a time most singers weren’t using their upper register. His approach helped me embrace the fact that I was a tenor. I owe that guy a lot.”

Jeff Buckley (1966–1997) American singer, guitarist and songwriter

Myles Kennedy - Alter Bridge Frontman from an online Jamie Vendera interview (http://www.jaimevendera.com/myleskennedyi.html)

Guy, Time, Help, Soul

“Our religion and culture, our history and tradition, our social code and economic system, our laws of inheritance, succession and marriage are fundamentally different from those of most peoples living in the rest of India. The ideals which move our people to make the highest sacrifices are essentially different from those which inspire the Hindus to do the same. These differences are not confined to broad, basic principles. Far from it. They extend to the minutest details of our lives. We do not inter-dine; we do not inter-marry. Our national customs and calendars, even our diet and dress are different.”

Choudhry Rahmat Ali book Pakistan Declaration

28 January 1933, quoted in Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever? (Pakistan Declaration)
Ideology of Pakistan

Religion, Law, Success, Marriage

“One afternoon, which is ever present in my recollection, I was enjoying a walk with my friend in the city park and reciting poetry. At that age I knew entire books by heart, word for word. One of these was Goethe's Faust. The sun was just setting and reminded me of a glorious passage:
Sie rückt und weicht, der Tag ist überlebt,
Dort eilt sie hin und fördert neues Leben.
O! daß kein Flügel mich vom Boden hebt,
Ihr nach und immer nach zu streben!
Ein schöner Traum, indessen sie entweicht.
Ach! zu des Geistes Flügeln wird so leicht
Kein körperlicher Flügel sich gesellen![The glow retreats, done is the day of toil;
It yonder hastes, new fields of life exploring;
Ah, that no wing can lift me from the soil
Upon its track to follow, follow soaring!
A glorious dream! though now the glories fade.
Alas! the wings that lift the mind no aid
Of wings to lift the body can bequeath me.
(tr. Bayard Taylor)
As I uttered these inspiring words the idea came like a flash of lightning and in an instant the truth was revealed. I drew with a stick on the sand the diagram shown six years later in my address before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and my companion understood them perfectly. The images I saw were wonderfully sharp and clear and had the solidity of metal and stone, so much so that I told him, "See my motor here; watch me reverse it."”

Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor

I cannot begin to describe my emotions. Pygmalion seeing his statue come to life could not have been more deeply moved. A thousand secrets of nature which I might have stumbled upon accidentally, I would have given for that one which I had wrested from her against all odds and at the peril of my existence …

On the Invention of the Induction Motor
My Inventions (1919)

Sun, Dreams, Heart, Truth

“The inspiration for the title of this book came from a Bible prophecy that seems more applicable now than at any other time in human history. It occurs in both the Old and the New Testament and speaks of the collapse of the existing world order and the arising of “a new heaven and a new earth." We need to understand here that heaven is not a location but refers to the inner realm of consciousness. This is the esoteric meaning of the word, and this is also its meaning in the teachings of Jesus.”

Eckhart Tolle book A New Earth

A New Earth (2005)

Time, History, Understanding, Books

“There are many ways to motivate people to do things, but loyalty comes from the ability to inspire people.”

Simon Sinek (1973) British/American author and motivational speaker

Source: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Motivation, Loyalty, Way, People

“The day I shaved my head was the most empowering moment of my whole life. The last strand of hair cut off was the moment my whole face was on show and I couldn't hide behind my hair like I used to. As I looked in the mirror I realised I had one job to do. Inspire ... Shaving your head is so empowering. You don't need hair to be beautiful. You are beautiful with or without. I learnt that too.”

Millie Bobby Brown (2004) British actress

"Millie Bobby Brown admits tension with her Stranger Things co-stars" https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5546137/Millie-Bobby-Brown-admits-theres-tension-Stranger-Things-stars.html. dailymail.co.uk. (26 March 2018).

Beauty, Life

“It is better, then, to save the work while it is begun. You have done the labor; maintain it—keep it. If men choose to serve you, go with them; but as you have made up your organization upon principle, stand by it; for, as surely as God reigns over you, and has inspired your mind, and given you a sense of propriety and continues to give you hope, so surely you will still cling to these ideas, and you will at last come back again after your wanderings, merely to do your work over again.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

1850s, Speech at Chicago (1858)

God, Hope, Sense, Idea

“Genius is 'the inspired gift of God.”

Thomas Carlyle book Past and Present

It is the clearer presence of God Most High in a man. Dim, potential in all men; in this man it has become clear, actual.
1840s, Past and Present (1843)

God

“If you want to inspire confidence, give plenty of statistics”

Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer

it does not matter that they should be accurate, or even intelligible, so long as there is enough of them.
Three Years in a Curatorship, By One Whom It Has Tried, 1886

Self-confidence, Confidence

“Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion?”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

Appearance, Wisdom

“Always remember that the love of Christ is without end. The love of the world will always betray you. Be inspired daily by the cross. It is in the cross that we find the true love of God.”

Ernest Simoni (1928) Albanian Roman Catholic cardinal

Cardinal Ernest Simoni, the “Living Martyr” of Albania https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2017/07/19/cardinal-ernest-simoni-the-living-martyr-of-albania/ (July 19, 2017)

God, Christ, World, Love

“Even as an athlete, I am constantly inspired and awed by the stories of Olympians. I was honored to have been asked to exchange ideas in the first charrette.”

Kristi Yamaguchi (1971) American figure skater

"Kristi Yamaguchi Interview" in United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum https://usopm.org/kristi-yamaguchi-interview/

Idea

“The only difference between a human and an animal is in having inspiration.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Animals

“I cannot allow or encourage anyone to become a philosopher. But once you find the inspiration to become one of them, there will be no one to stop you.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“Accessibility on the part of rulers ends by inspiring love rather than respect, and love evaporates at first sign of trouble.”

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838) French diplomat

Reported in, Bernard, J. F., Talleyrand: A Biography. (1973), p. 592

Love, Parting

“The real cause I consider to be the one which was formerly most kept out of sight. The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired the Lacedaemon, made war inevitable.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.23-[6]. (See: Thucydides Trap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides%20Trap) History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

War

“Technique is what you fall back on when you run out of inspiration.”

Rudolf Nureyev (1938–1993) Soviet ballet dancer and choreographer

Source: "Rudolf Nureyev’s Technical Influence" https://nureyev.org/rudolf-nureyev-artistic-influence-index/technique/

“Genius does not seem to derive any great support from syllogisms. Its carriage is free; its manner has a touch of inspiration. We see it come, but we never see it walk.”

Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821) Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat

"Tenth Dialogue"
St. Petersburg Dialogues (1821)

Support

“I want to develop my aesthetic sense without being too influenced. In a dress I try to be personal and that transmits my inspiration, that makes me look and feel unique.”

Berta Castañé (2002) Spanish actress and model

Quiero desarrollar mi sentido de la estética sin dejarme influir demasiado. En un vestido busco que sea personal y que me transmita mi propia inspiración, que me haga parecer y sentir única. From the interview of Begoña Clérigues, Cómo vestir a una actriz para la alfombra roja https://www.lasprovincias.es/revista-valencia/vestir-actriz-alfombra-20220208190641-nt.html, lasprovincias.es, 9 February 2022.

Personality, Sense, Feeling

“Nothing ever fits the palm so perfectly, or feels so right, or inspires so much protective instinct as the hand of a child”

Gregory David Roberts book Shantaram

Source: Shantaram

Feeling

“Books are for nothing but to inspire”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Books

“Don't you notice that there are particular moments when you are naturally inspired to introspection? Work with them gently, for these are the moments when you can go through a powerful experience, and your whole worldview can change quickly.”

Sogyal Rinpoche (1947–2019) Tibetan Dzogchen lama of the Nyingma tradition

Nature, Change

“Do you want me to call you Celery Stick instead of Cupcake or Honey-Pie? It just doesn’t inspire the same warm and fuzzy feelings.”

Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell

Source: The Indigo Spell

Feeling

“True love always makes a man better, no matter what woman inspires it.”

Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) French writer and dramatist, father of the homonym writer and dramatist

Love

“The delight we inspire in others has this enchanting peculiarity that, far from being diminished like every other reflection, it returns to us more radiant than ever.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

“First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice.”

Octavia E. Butler book Bloodchild and Other Stories

Source: Bloodchild and Other Stories

Motivational, Success, Inspirational, Life

“Inspiration usually comes during work, rather than before it.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

The Summer of the Great-Grandmother (1974), p. 143

“…good teachers are priceless. They inspire you, they entertain you, and you end up learning a ton even when you don't know it.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

"Because they're passionate about their subjects."
Savannah Lynn Curtis and John Tyree, Chapter 4, p. 69-70
Source: 2000s, Dear John (2006)

Learning

“Inez? I'm sorry I bit you," he said with sincere regret, and then inspiration made him add, "Bastien made me do it.”

Lynsay Sands Canadian writer

Source: Vampires are Forever

Sincerity

“Like seeing a photograph of yourself as a child, encountering handwriting that you know was once yours but that now seems only dimly familiar can inspire a confrontation with the mystery of time.”

Francine Prose (1947) American writer

Source: Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them

Time

“What is life but a series of inspired follies? The difficulty is to find them to do. Never lose a chance: it doesn't come every day.”

George Bernard Shaw Pygmalion

Act II
Source: 1910s, Pygmalion (1912)

Life, Chance

“The French say you get hungry when you’re eating, and I get inspired when I’m working. It’s my engine”

Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019) German fashion designer

“Difference between motivation and inspiration - Motivation is external and short lived. Inspiration is internal and lifelong”

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (1956) spiritual leader

Motivation

“Inspiration is what keeps us well.”

James Redfield book The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision

Source: The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision

“Be inspired but not proud.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

Source: Light on Life

“Poetry, she thought, wasn't written to be analyzed; it was meant to inspire without reason, to touch without understanding.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Notebook

Source: The Notebook

Understanding

“Do those people who hold up the Bible as an inspiration to
moral rectitude have the slightest notion of what is actually written
in it?”

Richard Dawkins book The God Delusion

Source: The God Delusion

People

“I’m tired of ignorance held up as inspiration, where vicious anti-intellectualism is considered a positive trait, and where uninformed opinion is displayed as fact.”

Philip Plait (1964) astronomer, skeptic

"The mainstreaming of crazy" (8 September 2009) http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/08/the-mainstreaming-of-evil/ Bad Astronomy blog

“Check you out,' said Magnus. 'My famous boyfriend, inspiration to the masses.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Born to Endless Night

“When Stephen King elaborated on his inspirations for his novel "Carrie" he draws from a time when he was a young man, and describes his impression when he came upon a statue of Christ on the cross, hanging there in misery, and he thought”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Time, Christ, Drawing

“We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.”

Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) British missionary

Source: My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year

“Don’t waste time waiting for inspiration. Begin, and inspiration will find you.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer

Time, Waiting

“End of Construction. Thank you 'for your patience. " Inscription on Ruth Bell Graham's grave -- inspired hy a road sign she saw.”

Billy Graham (1918–2018) American Christian evangelist

Source: Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well

Patience

“Your battles inspired me - not the obvious material battles but those that were fought and won behind your forehead.”

James Joyce (1882–1941) Irish novelist and poet

“The greatest products of architecture are less the works of individuals than of society; rather the offspring of a nation's effort, than the inspired flash of a man of genius…”

Victor Hugo book The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Source: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Effort

“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Freedom

“Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Imagination

“If it is so painful to love and to be charged with this electric current, how much more painful must it be to a woman and to be the current, and to inspire love.”

Borís Pasternak book Doctor Zhivago

Source: Doctor Zhivago (1957)

Love, Pain

“Men love a submissive woman, Damon said simply. Even when they say the don't. There's just something about a beautiful, soft woman looking to them to protect and take care of them that inspires a man to greatness.”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: Sweet Surrender

Love, Men, Beauty

“Literature has been the salvation of the damned, literature has inspired and guided lovers, routed despair and can perhaps in this case save the world.”

John Cheever (1912–1982) American novelist and short story writer

Entry in his journal before his last public appearance, the ceremony at which he received the National Medal for Literature, quoted by Susan Cheever, Home before Dark Houghton Mifflin (1984).

World, Literature, Lovers, Despair

“He did and said all the right things. Things that went straight to her heart, and worse, they inspired the one thing that she'd given up along time ago. Hope.”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: Fever

Hope, Time, Heart

“My soul is wrapped in harsh repose,
Midnight descends in raven-colored clothes,
But soft… behold!
A sunlight beam
Butting a swath of glimmering gleam.
My heart expands,
'tis grown a bulge in it,
Inspired by your beauty…
Effulgent.”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

Beauty, Color, Soul, Heart

“You don't need to wait for inspiration to write. It's easier to be inspired while writing that while not writing…”

Josip Novakovich (1956) Canadian writer

Source: Fiction Writer's Workshop

Waiting

“Insomnia is my greatest inspiration.”

Jon Stewart (1962) American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian

“Working inspires inspiration. Keep working. If you succeed, keep working. If you fail, keep working. If you are interested, keep working. If you are bored, keep working.”

Michael Crichton (1942–2008) American author, screenwriter, film producer

“Reality is not an inspiration for literature. At its best, literature is an inspiration for reality.”

Romain Gary (1914–1980) French writer and diplomat

Literature, Reality

“Inspiration is always a surprising visitor.”

John O'Donohue (1956–2008) Irish writer, priest and philosopher

Source: Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

“Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute to improving our quality of life. Libraries change lives for the better.”

Sidney Sheldon (1917–2007) American writer

Life, World, Imagination, Change

“Should I ever marry, Watson, I should hope to inspire my wife with some feeling which would prevent her from being walked off by a housekeeper when my corpse was lying within a few yards of her.”

Arthur Conan Doyle book The Valley of Fear

Source: The Valley of Fear

Hope, Feeling, Lying

“The West's post-Holocaust pledge that genocide would never again be tolerated proved to be hollow, and for all the fine sentiments inspired by the memory of Auschwitz, the problem remains that denouncing evil is a far cry from doing good.”

Philip Gourevitch We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families

Source: We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families

Problem, Memory, Evil, Cry

“In the end, we get older, we kill everyone who loves us through the worries we give them, through the troubled tenderness we inspire in them, and the fears we ceaselessly cause.”

Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German literary critic, philosopher and social critic (1892-1940)

Love, Fear

“There are women who inspire you with the desire to conquer them and to take your pleasure of them; but this one fills you only with the desire to die slowly beneath her gaze.”

Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) French poet

Women, Pleasure

“I'll tell you a secret. We live in a mad and inspiring world.”

Ben Hecht (1894–1964) American screenwriter

Secret, World, Madness

“Someone once asked Somerset Maughham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. "I write only when inspiration strikes," he replied. "Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.”

Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine

Source: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

“We do not wait for inspiration. We work because we've jolly well got to. But when all is said and done, we toil at this particular job because it's turned out to be our particular job, and in a weird sort of way I suppose we may be said to like it.”

Ngaio Marsh (1895–1982) New Zealand writer

Source: Ngaio Marsh: A Life

Way, Waiting

“To be inspired - that's the secret.”

Andre Agassi book Open. An Autobiography

Source: Open

Secret

“If I had a view like this to look down on every day, I would have the energy and inspiration to conquer the world. The trouble is, when you most need such a view, no one gives it to you.”

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad

Source: A Visit from the Goon Squad

World

“Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead.”

Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist

Wise, Life, Kiss, Waiting

“Only those things are beautiful which are inspired by madness and written by reason.”

André Gide (1869–1951) French novelist and essayist

Beauty, Madness

“A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all.”

Rita Mae Brown (1944) Novelist, poet, screenwriter, activist

“You cannot force commitment, what you can do…You nudge a little here, inspire a little there, and provide a role model. Your primary influence is the environment you create.”

Peter M. Senge (1947) American scientist

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Motivational, Deep, Success, Happy

“What is a teacher? I'll tell you: it isn't someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: The Witch of Portobello (2007), p. 78.
Source: The Witch Of Portobello

Teachers

“It is love and friendship, the sanctity and celebration of our relationships, that not only support a good life, but create one. Through friendships, we spark and inspire one another's ambitions.”

Wallace Stegner book Crossing to Safety

Source: Crossing to Safety

Love, Life, Friendship, Support

“Who or what inspires you?"
"I must admit that I often read my own articles in scientific journals and inspire myself.”

Eoin Colfer book The Artemis Fowl Files

Source: The Artemis Fowl Files

Reading

“There is no rest for the humble except in despising the great, whose only thought of the people is inspired by self-interest or sadism.”

Louis-ferdinand Céline book Journey to the End of the Night

Source: Journey to the End of the Night

People

“I viddied that thinking is for the gloopy ones and that the oomny ones use like inspiration and what Bog sends. For now it was lovely music that came to my aid.”

Anthony Burgess book A Clockwork Orange

Source: A Clockwork Orange

Love, Music, Thinking

“He who is best prepared can best serve his moment of inspiration.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher

“Muses had a way of killing those whom they inspired.”

Katherine Neville book The Eight

Source: The Eight

Way

“Every virtuous act is inspired by a dark secret.”

Gregory David Roberts book Shantaram

Source: Shantaram

Secret

“As long as we have Netfix, Turner Classic Movies, Amazon, YouTube, and bookstores, there is no excuse ever to lack inspiration.”

Tim Gunn (1953) American actor and fashion consultant

Source: Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work

“Love isn't just a feeling. It's an art. And like any art, it takes not only inspiration but also a lot of work.”

Paulo Coelho book Adultery

Source: Adultery

Love, Art, Feeling

“The task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

Heart

“I believe in intuition and inspiration.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Cosmic Religion : With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931) by Albert Einstein, p. 97; also in Transformation : Arts, Communication, Environment (1950) by Harry Holtzman, p. 138. This may be an edited version of some nearly identical quotes from the 1929 Viereck interview below.
1930s
Context: I believe in intuition and inspiration. … At times I feel certain I am right while not knowing the reason. When the eclipse of 1919 confirmed my intuition, I was not in the least surprised. In fact I would have been astonished had it turned out otherwise. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.

“What is life but a series of inspired follies…”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Life

“In my view, I am often immensely rich, not in money, but (although just now perhaps not all the time) rich because I have found my metier, something I can devote myself to heart and soul and that gives inspiration and meaning to my life.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Life, Money, Soul, Time

“I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring - I wrote my very best poem while sitting on the hen-house.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

Housing