Eileen Myles Quotes

Powerful Eileen Myles for Daily Growth

About Eileen Myles

Eileen Myles (born Edward Schiappa in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1949) is an acclaimed American poet, novelist, playwright, and performance artist who has broken boundaries in gender, sexuality, and the artistic landscape throughout their illustrious career. Born to a working-class family, Myles' early years were marked by tumultuous familial relationships and a struggle for self-expression that would later permeate their work. After moving to New York City in 1974, they adopted the name Eileen Myles, abandoning their given name Edward Schiappa as part of their gender transition process. Myles' literary breakthrough came with the publication of "Chelsea Girls" (1994), an unconventional and raw memoir exploring life in New York City's bohemian underground during the 1980s AIDS crisis. The book, which features a bold, confessional narrative voice, cemented Myles as a vital figure in queer literature. In addition to "Chelsea Girls," notable works by Eileen Myles include poetry collections such as "Snowflake/different streets" (1977), "The Importance of Being Iceland" (1988), and the National Book Award-longlisted "Evolution of Revolution" (2015). Their novel "Inferno (A Poet's Novel)" (2010) offers a fictionalized, semi-autobiographical account of a lesbian poet navigating life in New York City. Myles' writing is often characterized by its raw honesty, wit, and an unapologetic exploration of identity and sexuality. Their work has been praised for its ability to challenge societal norms while simultaneously celebrating the complexities of human experience. Today, Eileen Myles continues to be a significant voice in contemporary literature, inspiring generations of writers and readers alike.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"I must have a mind like a memory card."

This quote, by Eileen Myles, suggests a desire for an exceptional capacity to store information, similar to a digital memory card. It implies that the speaker aspires to have a mind that can retain vast amounts of knowledge or experiences without limits, making them well-informed, adaptable, and open to learning in various contexts.

"Time is a queer thing, it creeps when you want it to rush and rushes when you wish it would creep."

Eileen Myles' quote acknowledges the paradoxical nature of time, suggesting that it moves at its own pace, seemingly defying our expectations. When we desire something to progress quickly (e.g., waiting for an important event), time seems to drag on ("creeps"). Conversely, when we want moments to linger or slow down (e.g., enjoying a beautiful sunset), it speeds up ("rushes"). This quote serves as a reminder of our inability to control time's flow and encourages us to appreciate each moment for what it is, rather than longing for the next one.

"I want my life to be a big gigantic mess, but a beautiful one."

This quote expresses a desire for a life that is both chaotic (a "big gigantic mess") yet aesthetically pleasing ("but a beautiful one"). The speaker values experiencing the complexities and uncertainties of life, but with an artistic sensibility that finds beauty in those very imperfections. It's about living authentically, embracing life's challenges and finding a sense of harmony amidst the chaos.

"The most important part of being a writer is actually doing it, not talking about it or wishing you could do it."

Eileen Myles' quote emphasizes that the fundamental aspect of being a writer lies in the act of writing itself, rather than discussing or contemplating the act. It encourages action over words, suggesting that only through consistent writing can one truly become a writer.

"Art has taught me that I am not alone in the world, nor in my thoughts, nor even my body. Art teaches me community and intimacy."

This quote by Eileen Myles suggests that art serves as a bridge connecting individuals, fostering a sense of community and intimacy among people who may otherwise feel isolated or alienated. Through the process of creating and experiencing art, we find shared experiences, emotions, and ideas with others. Art offers a platform for self-expression, empathy, and understanding, thereby encouraging human connection on a profound level.

Older men get lovable, and older women get monstrous.

- Eileen Myles

Men, Older Women, Get, Monstrous

Living in literature and love is the best thing there is. You're always home.

- Eileen Myles

Love, Literature, Always, Love Is

I'm the weird poet who has paid her dues in the experimental world for 30 or 40 years.

- Eileen Myles

Weird, World, Her, Dues

The poet is like the earth's shadow. The sun moves, and the poet writes something down.

- Eileen Myles

Shadow, Moves, Like, Writes

Everybody loved me running for president in '91 and '92 because they never knew a presidential candidate before.

- Eileen Myles

Knew, Everybody, Before, Presidential

Poetry and novels are lists of our devotions. We love the feel of making the marks as the feelings are rising and falling.

- Eileen Myles

Love, Falling, Making, Novels

If the poetry world celebrate its female stars at the true level of their productivity and influence, poetry would wind up being a largely female world, and the men would leave.

- Eileen Myles

Stars, Celebrate, Level, Wind

Sunday is a likely day to write a poem. Because poetry is a piece of language flying around: you'll find notebooks, something on your phone. It's about finding them and getting them off that crumpled piece of paper and onto my computer.

- Eileen Myles

Language, About, Your, Notebooks

I was like the family clown. The middle child entertaining. I was a lousy student, but interestingly, the nuns always let me write plays or do drawings, endless special projects.

- Eileen Myles

Middle, Always, Plays, Lousy

To be a poet, it's a challenge to do it in poverty, to do it in wealth. To do it in the academy, to do it in a relationship where you're happy. Everything changes the game. To do it in the awkward state of love, despair, dying. You just have to work it.

- Eileen Myles

Love, Wealth, Game, Despair

Poetry from the bottom up is an act of selection: you kind of feel your way through the crowds of poems. The good ones came forward a long time ago, and the bad ones fell away.

- Eileen Myles

Bad, Through, Away, Bad Ones

I started writing poems, and when I first tried prose, I wrote bad articles and essays and columns, and I didn't have a handle on it. I didn't go to a school that really taught you how to write that stuff.

- Eileen Myles

Bad, Prose, Columns, Essays

The first time I voted, I voted for Eugene McCarthy and I knew he wouldn't win, but it felt so great to vote for him, to vote for the right guy - the one who wanted peace.

- Eileen Myles

Knew, McCarthy, Felt, Vote

A vote should be generative, not like business as usual, which is what voting feels like for most of us.

- Eileen Myles

Most, Feels, Which, Vote

I've had a lifelong waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop feeling when something good happens.

- Eileen Myles

Feeling, Had, Lifelong, Something Good

I love Canada, and I dated someone who was Canadian a few years ago, and she brought me into a deeper understanding of the greatness of the culture.

- Eileen Myles

Love, Greatness, Brought, Dated

I'd like to sit down with Hillary Clinton onstage and ask her about Glass Steagall and all the big banks and her own campaign contributions.

- Eileen Myles

Big, Glass, Like, None

I've grown to love Barack Obama. Hillary is no Bernie Sanders. But she's a politician, and she understands Congress. And I think with that kind of twisted beauty, she could lead our country.

- Eileen Myles

Love, Country, I Think, Hillary

Fred Moten is a poet I really love because he changes who is telling the poem all the time.

- Eileen Myles

Love, Changes, Telling, Fred

In my family, I'm the middle of three, and I'm like a lot of middle children. I was one of those kids that floated from group to group. I liked being able to be included in all the groups - the bad kids, the smart kids.

- Eileen Myles

Bad, Middle, Like, Included

Certainly in the arts, in all genres, I think that men should step away. I think men should stop writing books. I think men should stop making movies or television. Say, for 50 to 100 years.

- Eileen Myles

Think, Making, Certainly, 100 Years

I wake up with a sense of wonder. I don't dread the future. I like it.

- Eileen Myles

Future, Like, Wake, Wonder

When I'm writing the poem, I feel like I have to close my eyes. I don't mean literally, but you invite a kind of blindness, and that's the birth of the poem.

- Eileen Myles

Like, Blindness, Literally, Invite

I made myself into a poet because it was the first thing I really loved. It was an act of will.

- Eileen Myles

Myself, Will, Made, The First Thing

I tend to view my life as an accident, almost as a dream.

- Eileen Myles

My Life, View, Tend, Accident

The thing about not being historically a mainstream writer is that everyone feels like you're theirs: you're their friend.

- Eileen Myles

Everyone, Like, Feels, Historically

I didn't know how to write a novel, so I sort of let it happen in waves. The only way I could write it was to think like scenes in a movie.

- Eileen Myles

Waves, Think, Happen, Scenes

Dogs are a companion species. It's about time - you have an animal for about 15, 16 years, a generation. That time holds so much. You might have had five or six relationships with human beings but one dog.

- Eileen Myles

Companion, About, Had, Five

Lyndon Johnson, I know for a fact, was a great president. And I don't mean by that he was a great man.

- Eileen Myles

Fact, Lyndon, Johnson, Great Man

Having big audiences when you're on a book tour is like Valhalla if you're a person who used to sell Girl Scout cookies on the side. Because you want to give the reading that will sell the most books.

- Eileen Myles

Book, Big, Used, Tour

If you have a dog, and you're a person whose moods are constantly changing, there's a moment when you look at the dog, and you feel bad for them because they're attached to you, and so it's funny for the dog to vocalize those things in some ways.

- Eileen Myles

Bad, Feel, Some, Attached

If I had been a good student and an achiever, I might have been excited by a more systematic approach to writing than what I do.

- Eileen Myles

Student, Excited, Been, Achiever

I really just love reading. It's my favorite thing, performing my poems live. Reading by reading, I just kind of follow my nose.

- Eileen Myles

Love, Kind, Nose, Favorite Thing

Evolution is not an even process. There are surges, and there are micromoments. Certainly a career as an artist is that way.

- Eileen Myles

Process, Career, Certainly, Evolution

When we have relationships with animals, we often make up who they are.

- Eileen Myles

Relationships, Often, Up, Make Up

I wasn't afraid of being poor. I didn't want to live in a big house. I'm the perfect size for poetry. I can move around.

- Eileen Myles

Big, Perfect, Move, Size

When somebody's in love with you, they think it's amazing you've written them a poem, and when they don't love you anymore, they hate those poems. They wish those poems would go away.

- Eileen Myles

Love, Think, Away, Love You

Somehow, the whole idea of me writing art reviews was just too much of a complicated thought, but I liked art, and later on I just realized that it would be perhaps a pleasure, and so I decided to do it for 'Art in America' - a lot.

- Eileen Myles

Art, Thought, Idea, Reviews

The only job that ever really worked for me was teaching because you are your own master once you get into the room. You just have to show up on time and talk about what you care about.

- Eileen Myles

Own, Show, About, Master

It's a big statement if you use the word 'America' in the title of your poem.

- Eileen Myles

Big, Use, Statement, Poem

The most exciting thing is to read a poem out loud for the first time.

- Eileen Myles

Loud, Most, Read, Poem

I'm using my degree. You know, I studied English and American literature in college, and now I'm an American poet.

- Eileen Myles

College, Using, Studied, Poet

Literature is love. I think it went like this: drawings in the cave, sounds in the cave, songs in the cave, songs about us. Later, stories about us.

- Eileen Myles

Love, Think, I Think, Drawings

In Arlington, people would laugh at you if you tried to get people to look at your drawings or listen to your poetry. It was like you thought you were special.

- Eileen Myles

Thought, Like, Your, Drawings

Weirdly, the past starts to be about something else. It becomes about style in a way that it wasn't about, and I don't mean writing style, but cultural style.

- Eileen Myles

Past, About, Something Else, Weirdly

With Instagram, you're captioning a moment. Twitter is the caption without the image. Even if it's there, the words come first.

- Eileen Myles

Words, Come, Image, Twitter

I thought 'Chelsea Girls' was going to change my life.

- Eileen Myles

My Life, Thought, Going, Chelsea

I always aimed at being a legend.

- Eileen Myles

Always, Being, Legend

As a human being, I'm kind of a cheery melancholic. I have energy; I'm happy.

- Eileen Myles

Happy, Kind, Being, Human Being

As things get worse, poetry gets better because it becomes more necessary.

- Eileen Myles

Better, More, Necessary, Worse

I'm proud that I've never stopped writing about being poor.

- Eileen Myles

Proud, Never, Poor, Stopped

I'm not against wealth; I just think everybody should have it, same as health.

- Eileen Myles

Think, Same, Everybody, Wealth

Who doesn't want to be famous? I am famous. I'm dying to be on TV.

- Eileen Myles

I Am, Famous, TV, Dying

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