your concert-goer, though he feed upon symphony as a lamb upon milk, is no true lover if he play no instrument. Your true lover does more than admire the muse; he sweats a little in her service.
Catherine Drinker BowenPeople who carry a musical soul about them are, I think, more receptive than others. They smile more readily. One feels in them a pleasant propensity toward the lesser sins, a pleasing readiness also to admit the possibility that on occasion they may be in the wrong--they may be mistaken.
Catherine Drinker BowenFor your born writer, nothing is so healing as the realization that he has come upon the right word.
Catherine Drinker BowenIn early days, I tried not to give librarians any trouble, which was where I made my primary mistake. Librarians like to be given trouble; they exist for it, they are geared to it. For the location of a mislaid volume, an uncatalogued item, your good librarian has a ferretโs nose. Give her a scent and she jumps the leash, her eye bright with battle.
Catherine Drinker Bowen