Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness1 - I wouldn't know. But I am sure it is the antithesis2 of self- consciousness.
Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990)
We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.
Frank Tibolt
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
Jack3 London (1876 - 1916)
Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time... The wait is simply too long.
Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990)
I decided4 that it was not wisdom that enabled [poets] to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime5 messages without knowing in the least what they mean.
Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC), In "Apology," sct. 21, by Plato.
Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration6.
Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931), Harper's Monthly, 1932
Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.
Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931), Harper's Monthly, 1932
