Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDFear 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.
More Steven Pressfield Quotes
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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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It is one thing to study war and another to live the warrior’s life.
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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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The amateur tweets. The pro works.
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Put your ass where your heart wants to be.
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The Principle of Priority states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what’s important first.
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Don’t cheat the world of your contribution. Give it what you’ve got.
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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.
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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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Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.
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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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The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.
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If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.
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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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Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.
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Stay stupid. Follow your unconventional crazy heart.
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What finally convinced me to go ahead was simply that I was so unhappy not going ahead.
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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.
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The artist cannot look to others to validate his efforts or his calling. If you don’t believe me, ask Van Gogh, who produced masterpiece after masterpiece and never found a buyer in his whole life.
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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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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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Resistance is not a peripheral opponent. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. resistance is the enemy within.
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Be too dumb to quit and too stubborn to back off.
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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.
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Every sun casts a shadow, and genius’s shadow is 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.
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