61 Quotes by Kathleen Tessaro

Very few of us relate to what it's like to be a hero. But everyone understands what it's like to fail.

Most people assume that a muse is a creature of perfect beauty, poise and grace. Like the creatures from Greek mythology. They're wrong. In fact, there should be a marked absence of perfection in a muse--a gaping hole between what she is and what she might be. The ideal muse is a woman whose rough edges and contradictions drive you to fill in the blanks of her character. She is the irritant to your creativity. A remarkable possibility, waiting to be formed.

You see, nothing is more immediate, more complete than the sense of smell. In an instant, it has the power to transport you. Your olfactory sense connects not to the memory itself, but to the emotion you felt when that memory was made. To recreate a scent memory is one of the most challenging, eloquent pursuits possible. It’s poetry, in its most immediate form.

...certain smells were the custodians of memory. And once they were unleashed, their effect was instantaneous, like switching on a light – flooding the senses far too quickly and completely. They had the power to transport and overwhelm. For that reason, one needed to be wary of them.

The world is defined by smells – not words or shapes or sounds.

If you can capture a woman’s imagination, then you will have her. But imagination is a strange creature. It needs time and distance to function properly.

Life is, after all, a sensual experience. Our senses have the power to truly transport us but also to ground us. Make us human.

When a woman changes her hair what she’s really saying to fate is, no. I refuse to be defined by those terms.

There is nothing more difficult than simplicity, and therefore, nothing more refined.