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.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDEvery sun casts a shadow, and genius’s shadow is Resistance.
More Steven Pressfield Quotes
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The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.
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The professional respects his craft. He does not consider himself superior to it. He recognizes the contributions of those who have gone before him. He apprentices himself to them.
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The professional does not wait for inspiration; he acts in anticipation of it.
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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.
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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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When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out our own.
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Resistance is greatest just before the finish line.
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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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The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.
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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.
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Slay that dragon once, and he will never have power over you again.
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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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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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Don’t prepare, do. Don’t let Resistance sucker you into wasting months on background, foundation, planning. All that can come later.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD






