--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Dance music ... stirs some barbaric…" description: "\"Dance music ... stirs some barbaric instinct - lulled asleep in our sober lives - you forget centuries of civilization in a second, & yield to that str..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/834/virginia-woolf-49_barbaric_dance-music-stirs-some-barbaric-instinct_377289.jpg" --- # Dance music ... stirs some barbaric instinct - lulled… ![“Dance music ... stirs some barbaric instinct - lulled asleep in our sober lives - you forget centuries of civilization in a second, & yield to that strange passion which sends you madly whirling round the room.” quote by Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/834/virginia-woolf-49_barbaric_dance-music-stirs-some-barbaric-instinct_377289.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/834/virginia-woolf-49_barbaric_dance-music-stirs-some-barbaric-instinct_377289.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/834/virginia-woolf-49_barbaric_dance-music-stirs-some-barbaric-instinct_377289.jpg) > “Dance music ... stirs some barbaric instinct - lulled asleep in our sober lives - you forget centuries of civilization in a second, & yield to that strange passion which sends you madly whirling round the room.” [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Dance can temporarily suspend civilization’s constraints, unleashing primal instincts and intense emotion. **In simple terms:** Dance frees us, letting primal instincts surface briefly. Key Takeaway Allow moments of wild expression to refresh the mind. Themes art instinct escape human nature Mood exhilarated introspective Type artistic philosophical When to use this quote - social gatherings - personal stress relief - creative workshops - nightlife experiences Key Concepts cultural critique psychology music therapy Questions to Reflect On - How does dance affect your sense of self? - When have you felt a loss of civilization in art? A Different Perspective The intensity described may not apply to all listeners or cultures. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Barbaric](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/barbaric/) [Barbaric Instinct](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/barbaric-instinct-3429742/) [Century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/century/) [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Dance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dance/) [Dance music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dance-music/) [Forget](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forget/) [Instinct](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instinct/) [Madly Whirling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/madly-whirling-3429744/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Rooms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rooms/) [Rounds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rounds/) [Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sober/) [Stirs Barbaric](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stirs-barbaric-3429743/) [Strange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strange/) [Strange Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strange-passion-286949/) [Yield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yield/) ## Related quotes > [Yield to that strange passion which sends you madly whirling round the room.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/yield-to-that-strange-passion-which-sends-you-madly-whirling-round/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Vanity is a strange passion; rather than be out of a job it will brag of its vices.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-billings/vanity-is-a-strange-passion-rather-than-be-out-of-a-job-it-will-brag/) [Josh Billings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josh-billings/) > [A strange passion is moving in my head My heart has become a bird which searches in the sky. Every part of me goes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-strange-passion-is-moving-in-my-head-my-heart-has-become-a-bird/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I have an obsessive passion, but this is a very strange passion. Glass doors, I love them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramandeep-singh/i-have-an-obsessive-passion-but-this-is-a-very-strange-passion-glass/) [Ramandeep Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramandeep-singh/) > [How strange it is to see with how much passion People see things only in their own fashion!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moliere/how-strange-it-is-to-see-with-how-much-passion-people-see-things-only/) [Moliere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moliere/) > [In Spain in the meantime, Aristotelian scholar Juan Gines de Sepulveda was putting the impolitic moralizing of Las Casas into proper perspective for posterity:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gines-de-sepulveda/in-spain-in-the-meantime-aristotelian-scholar-juan-gines-de-sepulveda/) [Juan Gines de Sepulveda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gines-de-sepulveda/) > [Football is so barbaric. Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking by playing it. I feel almost like I escaped from boot camp.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-bosworth/football-is-so-barbaric-sometimes-i-wonder-what-i-was-thinking-by/) [Brian Bosworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-bosworth/) > [In other words, the barbaric acts carried out in this building were probably almost a matter of routine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-hoon/in-other-words-the-barbaric-acts-carried-out-in-this-building-were/) [Geoff Hoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-hoon/) > [Consider the wave of revulsion that floods the average person when he or she hears of the practice of human sacrifice by the Aztecs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-allen/consider-the-wave-of-revulsion-that-floods-the-average-person-when-he/) [Steve Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-allen/) > [Taxes are a barbaric remnant of ancient times in which early farmers, tied to the land, no longer able to roam freely, unable to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/taxes-are-a-barbaric-remnant-of-ancient-times-in-which-early-farmers/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [To know only one thing well is to have a barbaric mind: civilization implies the graceful relation of all varieties of experience to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-graves/to-know-only-one-thing-well-is-to-have-a-barbaric-mind-civilization/) [Robert Graves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-graves/) > [Sometimes I wish eastern Congo could suffer an earthquake or a tsunami, so that it might finally get the attention it needs. The barbaric…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-d-kristof/sometimes-i-wish-eastern-congo-could-suffer-an-earthquake-or-a/) [Nicholas D. Kristof](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-d-kristof/) > [Mr. Speaker, for the last 5 years I have been working with a bipartisan group of my colleagues to make it illegal to continue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-blumenauer/mr-speaker-for-the-last-5-years-i-have-been-working-with-a-bipartisan/) [Earl Blumenauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-blumenauer/) > [“Barbaric is letting the woman suffer to be alone for the rest of her life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/missy-lyons/barbaric-is-letting-the-woman-suffer-to-be-alone-for-the-rest-of-her/) [Missy Lyons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/missy-lyons/) > [Fighting, to me, seems barbaric. I don't really like it. I enjoy out-thinking another man and out-maneuvering him, but I still don't like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sugar-ray-robinson/fighting-to-me-seems-barbaric-i-don-t-really-like-it-i-enjoy-out/) [Sugar Ray Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sugar-ray-robinson/) ## More by Virginia Woolf > [Fatigue is the safest sleeping draught.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/fatigue-is-the-safest-sleeping-draught/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“The train slows and lengthens, as we approach London, the centre, and my heart draws out too, in fear, in exaltation. I am about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-train-slows-and-lengthens-as-we-approach-london-the-centre-and-my/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Across the broad continent of a woman's life falls the shadow of a sword. On one side all is correct, definite, orderly; the paths…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/across-the-broad-continent-of-a-woman-s-life-falls-the-shadow-of-a/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Other worshipful objects were content with worship; men, women, God, all let one kneel prostrate; but this form, were it only the shape of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/other-worshipful-objects-were-content-with-worship-men-women-god-all/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Why does Samuel Butler say, 'Wise men never say what they think of women'? Wise men never say anything else apparently.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/why-does-samuel-butler-say-wise-men-never-say-what-they-think-of/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Sometimes he woke with a brain like lead; at others it was as if a thousand wax tapers were alight and people were throwing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/sometimes-he-woke-with-a-brain-like-lead-at-others-it-was-as-if-a/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [The extraordinary woman depends on the ordinary woman. It is only when we know what were the conditions of the average woman's life -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-extraordinary-woman-depends-on-the-ordinary-woman-it-is-only-when/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [A veil of insanity everywhere: Oh why I was born in this age? It is a terrible age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/a-veil-of-insanity-everywhere-oh-why-i-was-born-in-this-age-it-is-a/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Love ought to stop on both sides, don’t you think, simultaneously?’ He spoke without any stress on the words, so as not to wake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/love-ought-to-stop-on-both-sides-don-t-you-think-simultaneously-he/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“It is so vast an alleviation to be able to point for another to look at. And then not to talk. To follow the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/it-is-so-vast-an-alleviation-to-be-able-to-point-for-another-to-look/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“What a vast fertility of pleasure books hold for me! (...) I think I could happily live here & read forever.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/what-a-vast-fertility-of-pleasure-books-hold-for-me-i-think-i-could/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“what a luxury to be alone once more,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/what-a-luxury-to-be-alone-once-more/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“...a woman writing thinks back through her mothers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/a-woman-writing-thinks-back-through-her-mothers/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“For one's children so often gave one's own perceptions a little thrust forwards.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/for-one-s-children-so-often-gave-one-s-own-perceptions-a-little/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“She would not say of anyone in the world now that they were this or were that. She felt very young; at the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/she-would-not-say-of-anyone-in-the-world-now-that-they-were-this-or/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) [Explore all 1,872 Virginia Woolf quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) ## More Barbaric quotes > [Fighting, to me, seems barbaric. I don't really like it. I enjoy out-thinking another man and out-maneuvering him, but I still don't like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sugar-ray-robinson/fighting-to-me-seems-barbaric-i-don-t-really-like-it-i-enjoy-out/) [Sugar Ray Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sugar-ray-robinson/) > [“Barbaric is letting the woman suffer to be alone for the rest of her life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/missy-lyons/barbaric-is-letting-the-woman-suffer-to-be-alone-for-the-rest-of-her/) [Missy Lyons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/missy-lyons/) > [Mr. Speaker, for the last 5 years I have been working with a bipartisan group of my colleagues to make it illegal to continue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-blumenauer/mr-speaker-for-the-last-5-years-i-have-been-working-with-a-bipartisan/) [Earl Blumenauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-blumenauer/) > [Sometimes I wish eastern Congo could suffer an earthquake or a tsunami, so that it might finally get the attention it needs. The barbaric…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-d-kristof/sometimes-i-wish-eastern-congo-could-suffer-an-earthquake-or-a/) [Nicholas D. Kristof](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-d-kristof/) > [To know only one thing well is to have a barbaric mind: civilization implies the graceful relation of all varieties of experience to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-graves/to-know-only-one-thing-well-is-to-have-a-barbaric-mind-civilization/) [Robert Graves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-graves/) > [Taxes are a barbaric remnant of ancient times in which early farmers, tied to the land, no longer able to roam freely, unable to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/taxes-are-a-barbaric-remnant-of-ancient-times-in-which-early-farmers/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [Consider the wave of revulsion that floods the average person when he or she hears of the practice of human sacrifice by the Aztecs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-allen/consider-the-wave-of-revulsion-that-floods-the-average-person-when-he/) [Steve Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-allen/) > [In other words, the barbaric acts carried out in this building were probably almost a matter of routine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-hoon/in-other-words-the-barbaric-acts-carried-out-in-this-building-were/) [Geoff Hoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-hoon/) > [Football is so barbaric. Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking by playing it. I feel almost like I escaped from boot camp.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-bosworth/football-is-so-barbaric-sometimes-i-wonder-what-i-was-thinking-by/) [Brian Bosworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-bosworth/) > [In Spain in the meantime, Aristotelian scholar Juan Gines de Sepulveda was putting the impolitic moralizing of Las Casas into proper perspective for posterity:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-gines-de-sepulveda/in-spain-in-the-meantime-aristotelian-scholar-juan-gines-de-sepulveda/) [Juan Gines de Sepulveda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-gines-de-sepulveda/) > [“The barbarian loves his own pride, and hates, or disbelieves in, the pride of others. I will be a civilized being, I will love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-blixen/the-barbarian-loves-his-own-pride-and-hates-or-disbelieves-in-the/) [Karen Blixen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-blixen/) > [We are going to be able to defeat ISIS on the ground there, as well as in this world, because of the Muslim Americans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-o-malley/we-are-going-to-be-able-to-defeat-isis-on-the-ground-there-as-well-as/) [Martin O'Malley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-o-malley/) > [Boxing was on the one hand barbaric, unconscionable, out of place in modern society. But then, so are war, racism, poverty, and pro football.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-wiley/boxing-was-on-the-one-hand-barbaric-unconscionable-out-of-place-in/) [Ralph Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-wiley/) > [Landmines are among the most barbaric weapons of war, because they continue to kill and maim innocent people long after the war itself has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kofi-annan/landmines-are-among-the-most-barbaric-weapons-of-war-because-they/) [Kofi Annan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kofi-annan/) > [Animal cruelty is one of the most unfortunate and barbaric demonstrations of human beings manipulating ill conceived notions of ‘power’ over other species.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-somerhalder/animal-cruelty-is-one-of-the-most-unfortunate-and-barbaric/) [Ian Somerhalder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-somerhalder/) [Browse all 129 Barbaric quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/barbaric/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Dance music ... stirs some barbaric instinct - lulled asleep in our sober lives - you forget centuries of civilization in a second, & yield to that strange passion which sends you madly whirling round the room.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Virginia Woolf" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/dance-music-stirs-some-barbaric-instinct-lulled-asleep-in-our-sober/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Barbaric" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/dance-music-stirs-some-barbaric-instinct-lulled-asleep-in-our-sober/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/834/virginia-woolf-49_barbaric_dance-music-stirs-some-barbaric-instinct_377289.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/834/virginia-woolf-49_barbaric_dance-music-stirs-some-barbaric-instinct_377289.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/834/virginia-woolf-49_barbaric_dance-music-stirs-some-barbaric-instinct_377289.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Dance music ... stirs some barbaric instinct - lulled asleep in our sober lives - you forget centuries of…” — Virginia Woolf", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Virginia Woolf", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Dance music ... stirs some barbaric...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/dance-music-stirs-some-barbaric-instinct-lulled-asleep-in-our-sober/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/dance-music-stirs-some-barbaric-instinct-lulled-asleep-in-our-sober/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```