Steven Pressfield Quotes
Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie.
Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.
Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny.
The essence of professionalism is the focus upon the work and its demands, while we are doing it, to the exclusion of all else.
The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.
We come into this world with a specific, personal destiny. We have a job to do, a calling to enact, a self to become. We are who we are from the cradle, and we're stuck with it.
A horse must be a bit mad to be a good cavalry mount, and its rider must be completely so.
The more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul.
The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.
Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.
Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.
A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It’s only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.
Don't prepare. Begin. Our enemy is not lack of preparation. The enemy is resistance, our chattering brain producing excuses. Start before you are ready.
We fear discovering that we are more than we think we are... That we actually have the guts, the perserverance, the capacity... because, if it's true, then we become estranged from all we know.
Courage is inseparable from love and leads to what may arguably be the noblest of all warrior virtues: selflessness.
Those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern over them.
Socrates demonstrated long ago, that the truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery.
The more you love your art/ calling/ enterprise, the more important its accomplishment to the evolution of your soul, the more you will fear it and the more Resistance you will experience facing it.
On the field of The Self stand a knight and a dragon. You are the knight. Resistance is the dragon.
Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got.
When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out our own.
Always attack. Even in defense, attack. The attacking arm possesses the initiative and thus commands the action. To attack makes men brave; to defend makes them timorous.
We will have to choose between the life we want for our future and the life we have left behind.
Fear doesn't go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.
This man has conquered the world! What have you done?" The philosopher replied without an instant's hesitation, "I have conquered the need to conquer the world.
The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts.
The Spartans say that any army may win while it still has legs under it; the real test comes when all strength is fled and the men must produce victory on will alone.
Nothing is as empowering as real-world validation, even if it's for failure.
Writers think in metaphors. Editors work in metaphors. A great reader reads in metaphors.
Do you love your idea? Does it feel right on instinct? Are you willing to bleed for it?
The professional loves her work. She is invested in it wholeheartedly. But she does not forget that the work is not her.
When we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen... Unseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose.
Of any activity you do, ask yourself: If I were the last person on earth, would I still do it?
The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don't just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.
...she (the artist, the writer) doesn't wait for inspiration, she acts in the anticipation of its apparition.
The professional learns to recognize envy-driven criticism and to take it for what it is: the supreme compliment. The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts.
To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be.
A work-in-progress generates its own energy field. You, the artist or entrepreneur, are pouring love into the work; you are suffusing it with passion and intention and hope.
The professional arms himself with patience, not only to give the stars time to align in his career, but to keep himself from flaming out in each individual work.
To feel ambition and to act upon it is to embrace the unique calling of our souls.
The professional will not tolerate disorder... He wants the carpet vacuumed and the threshold swept, so the Muse may enter and not soil her gown.
The instinct that pulls us toward art is the impulse to evolve, to learn, to heighten and elevate our consciousness. The Ego hates this. Because the more awake we become, the less we need the Ego.
The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work. The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not come, whatever they like.
To labor in the arts for any reason other than love is prostitution.