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

When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out our own.

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.

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.

Defeating Resistance is like giving birth. It seems absolutely impossible until you remember that women have been pulling it off successfully, with support and without, for fifty million years.

Ignorance and arrogance are the artist’s and entrepreneur’s indispensable allies. She must be clueless enough to have no idea how difficult her enterprise is going to be and cocky enough to believe she can pull it off anyway.”

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.

Resistance by definition is self-sabotage.

What finally convinced me to go ahead was simply that I was so unhappy not going ahead.

The amateur tweets. The pro works.

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.

Women are much more capable, braver, sharper, stronger and courageous than we think.

The brave man is not only he who overcomes the enemy, but he who is stronger than pleasures.

Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.

Always be the best, my boy, the bravest, and hold your head up high above all the others. Never disgrace the generation of your fathers. They were the bravest champions.

The willingness to show up changes us, It makes us a little braver each time.

The future doesn’t belong to the light-hearted. It belongs to the brave.

It is easy to be brave at a safe distance.

I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.