Divine Spark Quotations

There has to be
one delicious moment
when you have thought
of something . . .

That chance remark
was enough
for my imagination.

—Agatha Christie

The inspiration
of the almighty
gives man understanding.

—Bible

What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough. 

—Eugene Delacroix

The music of this opera {Madame Butterfly] was dictated to me by God; I was merely instrumental in putting it on paper and communication it to the public.

—Giacomo Puccini

Suddenly, with a roar like that of waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my mind, I felt the point of consciousness that was myself growing wider surrounded by waves of light.

—Gopi Krishna

I didn't have to think up so much as a comma or a semicolon; it was all given, straight from the celestial recording room. Weary, I would beg for a break, an intermission, to go to the toilet or take a breath of fresh air on the balcony. Nothing doing! 

—Henry Miller

There is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks. 

—Johann Gottfried Von Herder

 It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.  

—John Steinbeck

He who would have you believe that he is waiting for the inspiration of genius, is in reality at a loss how to begin. 

—Joshua Reynolds

When inspiration does not come, I go for a walk, go to the movie, talk to a friend, let go . . . The muse is bound to return again, especially if I turn my back! 

—Judy Collins 

Listen and be led. 

—L. M. Heroux

Music can be all things to all persons. It is like a great dynamic sun in the center of a solar system which sends out its rays and inspiration in every direction. Music makes us feel that the heavens open and a divine voice calls. Something in our souls responds and understands. 

—Leopold Stokowski

Inspiration is a fragile thing... just a breeze, touching the green foliage of a city park, just a whisper from the soul of a friend. Just a line of verse clipped from some book. Inspiration... who can say where it is born, and why it leaves us? Who can tell the reasons for its being or not being? Only this... I can think. Inspiration comes from the Heart of Heaven to give the lift of wings, and the breath of divine music to those of us who are earthbound.  

—Margaret Sangster 

All this fires my soul, and provided I am not disturbed, my subject enlarges itself, becomes methodized and defined, and the whole, though it be long, stand almost complete and finished in my mind, so I can survey it, like a fine picture or a beautiful statue at a glance. . . For this reason, the committing to paper is done quickly enough, for everything is, as I said, already finished; and it rarely differs on paper from what it was in my imagination. 

—Mozart

Inspiration could be called inhaling the memory of an act never experienced. 

—Ned Rorem 

I shut my eyes in order to see.

—Paul Gauguin

Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite: 'Fool!' said my Muse to me, 'look in thy heart and write.' 

—Philip Sidney 

The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web

—Picasso

There is a deity within us who breathes that divine fire by which we are animated.

—Publius Ovidius Naso

If you can’t find your inspiration by walking around the block one time, go around two blocks. 

—Robert Motherwell

Everyone uses from time to time such expressions as 'a thought pops up', an idea comes 'from the blue', or 'dawns' or 'comes as through out of a dream' or 'it suddenly hit me'. ....Breakthrough of ideas from some depth below the level of your awareness.  (i.e.. you unconsciousness. )

—Rollo May

It was as if the houses, doors, temple, and all other things vanished altogether, as if there was nothing everywhere! And what I saw was a boundless infinite Conscious Sea of light! ... a Continuous Succession of Effulgent Waves coming forward, raging and storming ... and lost all sense of consciousness.

—Saradananda

I decided 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 sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean. 

—Socrates 

Genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration.  As a result, a genius is often a talented person who has simply done all of his homework.

—Thomas Edison

God creates by intuition; man creates by inspiration, strengthened by observation.

—Victor Hugo

Genius -- To know without having learned; to draw just conclusions from unknown premises; to discern the soul of things..

—Ambrose Gwinett Bierce