Education Quote by Sarah Ban Breathnach

Breathnach’s line doesn’t just celebrate “passion”; it domesticate it. By calling passion “your muse” and then giving that muse a “her,” the quote reframes desire as a companionable, almost mentorship-like presence rather than a reckless force. It’s a rhetorical sleight of hand with a self-help author’s signature: you get the thrill of intensity without the threat of chaos. Passion becomes a figure you can listen to, learn from, and ultimately use to authorize your choices.

The specific intent is motivational, but not in the chest-thumping way. It’s aimed at readers who have been trained to outsource authority: to experts, partners, bosses, etiquette, or “should.” “Guide and teach you to trust your instincts” is less about impulsivity than about reclaiming an internal compass. The verb pair is telling: guide (direction) and teach (permission). Instinct here isn’t raw appetite; it’s intuition rehabilitated into something respectable.

The subtext is gendered in a quietly strategic way. Making passion feminine echoes the tradition of the muse, but it also softens the idea for an audience that might associate passion with mess, selfishness, or risk. “Let her” is an invitation to surrender control while still sounding safe and nurturing.

Contextually, Breathnach’s work sits in late-20th/early-21st-century lifestyle spirituality: a world of journals, rituals, and personal renewal where emotional authenticity is framed as competence. The quote works because it offers agency without aggression, a way to be driven without being “too much.”