“The professional loves her work. She is invested in it wholeheartedly. But she does not forget that the work is not her.”

I wrote in the War of Art that I could divide my life neatly into two parts: before turning pro and after. After is better.

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.

A cavalryman’s horse should be smarter than he is. But the horse must never be allowed to know this.

In my experience, depth of work consists of two components. The first is recklessness; the second is discipline.

The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts.

The professional tackles the project that will make him stretch. He takes on the assignment that will bear him into uncharted waters, compel him to explore unconscious parts of himself. Is he scared? Hell, yes. He’s petrified.

Figure out what scares you the most and do that first.

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.

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.

When we turn pro we stop running from our fears. We turn around and face them.

Put your ass where your heart wants to be.

It’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.

The last thing we want is to remain as we are.

Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experince it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential… Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.

The sign of the amateur is overglorification of and preoccupation with the mystery. The professional shuts up. She doesn’t talk about it. She does her work.

Our greatest battle is to become ourselves, in the face of adversity.

Investing is one of the few things you can learn on your own.

The days have never been long enough to do the things I would like to do. Every year has held more of interest than the year before.

Great investing requires a lot of delayed gratification.

I love what I do. I don’t do it for the money. I work on behalf of investors that I like and want to do well for. I’m a competitive person.

It all comes down to interest rates. As an investor, all you’re doing is putting up a lump-sump payment for a future cash flow.

When companies fail, or fail to grow, it’s almost always because they don’t invest in the people, the systems, and the processes they need.

I want to have one of the great investment records of all time.

Rich people invest money and poor people spend it.