At first, when an idea, a poem, or the desire to write takes hold of you, work is a pleasure, a delight, and your enthusiasm knows no bounds. But later on you work with difficulty, doggedly, desperately. For once you have committed yourself to a particular work, inspiration changes its form and becomes an obsession, like a love-affair… which haunts you night and day! Once at grips with a work, we must master it completely before we can recover our idleness. Natalie Clifford Barney
About This Quote

The story goes that when Tristan Tzara was writing his seminal 1913 collage “Dada Manifesto,” he was so absorbed in his work that he could not stop. He had to finish it and not let go of it for a moment. His friends and associates noticed that he worked on the manifesto for months and months. Finally, after much struggle and struggle, he finished the masterpiece. But, as soon as he finished it, he became bored with it and wanted to do something else.

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