“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”

Every sun casts a shadow, and genius’s shadow is Resistance.

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.

I would rather live my life as if there is a god and die to find out there isn’t, than live my life as if there isn’t and die to find out there is.

What everyone wants from life is continuous and genuine happiness.

Simplicity is always the secret, to a profound truth, to doing things, to writing, to painting. Life is profound in its simplicity

During your life, never stop dreaming. No one can take away your dreams.

I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck.

He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

Real life seeks the gentle slopes at the back of Mount Improbable, while creationists are blind to all but the daunting precipice at the front.