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.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDMost of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.
More Steven Pressfield Quotes
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Long-term, we must begin to build our internal strengths. It isn’t just skills like computer technology. It’s the old-fashioned basics of self-reliance, self-motivation, self-reinforcement, self-discipline, self-command.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Don’t prepare, do. Don’t let Resistance sucker you into wasting months on background, foundation, planning. All that can come later.
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Courage is inseparable from love and leads to what may arguably be the noblest of all warrior virtues: selflessness.
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The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts.
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When we’re living as amateurs, we’re running away from our calling – meaning our work, our destiny, the obligation to become our truest and highest selves.
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The last thing we want is to remain as we are.
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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.
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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.
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The amateur tweets. The pro works.
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The professional loves her work. She is invested in it wholeheartedly. But she does not forget that the work is not her.
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Research can become Resistance. We want to work, not prepare to work.
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Be too dumb to quit and too stubborn to back off.
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We feed it [Resistance] with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer Resistance.
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Do you love your idea? Does it feel right on instinct? Are you willing to bleed for it?
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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.
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As all born teachers, he was primarily a student.
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Stay stupid. Follow your unconventional crazy heart.
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Seeking support from friends and and family is like having people gathered around at your deathbed. It’s nice, but when the ship sails, all they can do is stand on the dock waving goodbye.
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There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance.
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The best and only thing that one artist can do for another is to serve as an example and an inspiration.
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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.
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The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.
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A cavalryman’s horse should be smarter than he is. But the horse must never be allowed to know this.
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