01c. 1943 ADSweetest of all is liberty. This we have chosen and this we pay for. We have embraced the laws of Lykurgus, and they are stern laws. They have schooled us to scorn the life of leisure, which this rich land of ours would bestow upon us if we wished, and instead to enroll ourselves in the academy of discipline and sacrifice. Guided by these laws, our fathers for twenty generations have breathed the blessed air of freedom and have paid the bill in full when it was presented. We, their sons, can do no less.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
02c. 1943 ADThe professional arms himself with patience, not only to give the stars time to align in his career, but to keep himself from flaming out in each individual work. He knows that any job, whether it’s a novel or a kitchen remodel, takes twice as long as he thinks and costs twice as much. He accepts that. He recognizes it as reality. The professional steels himself at the start of a project, reminding himself it is the Iditarod, not the sixty-yard dash. He conserves his energy. He prepares his mind for the long haul. He sustains himself with the knowledge that if he can just keep those huskies mushing, sooner or later the sled will pull in to Nome.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
03c. 1943 ADThe working artist will not tolerate trouble in her life because she knows trouble prevents her from doing her work.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
04c. 1943 ADThe awakening an artist must be ruthless, not only with herself but with others.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
05c. 1943 ADThe artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
06c. 1943 ADYou know, Hitler wanted to be an artist. At eighteen he took his inheritance, seven hundred kronen, and moved to Vienna to live and study... Ever see one of his paintings? Neither have I. Resistance beat him. Call it overstatement but I'll say it anyway: it was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
07c. 1943 ADThe artist and the mother are vehicles, not originators. They don't create the new life, they only bear it. This is why birth is such a humbling experience. The new mom weeps in awe at the little miracle in her arms. She knows it came out of her but not from her, through her but not of her.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
08c. 1943 ADIt's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write.What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
09c. 1943 ADFear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it. Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore 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. That's why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there'd be no Resistance.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
10c. 1943 ADThe song we’re composing already exists in potential. Our work is to find it.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
11c. 1943 ADAt least twice a week, I pause in the rush of work and have a meeting with myself. (If I were part of a team, I’d call a team meeting.) I ask myself, again, of the project: “What is this damn thing about?” Keep refining your understanding of the theme; keep narrowing it down.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
12c. 1943 ADA work-in-progress generates its own energy field. You, the artist or entrepreneur, are pouring love into the work; you are suffusing it with passion and intention and hope.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
13c. 1943 ADNo matter how great a writer, artist, or entrepreneur, he is a mortal, he is fallible. He is not proof against Resistance. He will drop the ball; he will crash. That’s why they call it rewriting.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
14c. 1943 ADThe drawing is also a reminder that there’s an artist within each of us, and we must encourage that artist to do the work, to make something that matters, regardless of anything else that is going on.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
15c. 1943 ADIt's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
17c. 1943 ADWar, not peace, produces virtue. War, not peace, purges vice. War, and preparation for war, call forth all that is noble and honorable in a man. It unites him with his brothers and binds them in selfless love, eradicating in the crucible of necessity all which is base and ignoble. There in the holy mill of murder the meanest of men may seek and find that part of himself, concealed beneath the corrupt, which shines forth brilliant and virtuous, worthy of honor before the gods. Do not despise war, my young friend, nor delude yourself that mercy and compassion are virtues superior to andreia, to manly valor.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
18c. 1943 ADThis 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.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
19c. 1943 ADFame Imperishable and glory that will never die -- that is what we march for!Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
20c. 1943 ADTurning pro is a mindset. If we are struggling with fear, self-sabotage, procrastination, self-doubt, etc., the problem is, we're thinking like amateurs. Amateurs don't show up. Amateurs crap out. Amateurs let adversity defeat them. The pro thinks differently. He shows up, he does his work, he keeps on truckin', no matter what.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
21c. 1943 ADArtists, writers and people in creative fields are entrepreneurs by necessity. Nobody gives them a paycheck or picks up their medical insurance. The ones who succeed learn to think and act like 'independent operators.' I think people who are technically 'employees' have to think this way as well. The company is not looking out for you.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
22c. 1943 ADLong-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.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
23c. 1943 ADAs powerful as is our soul's call, so potent are the forces of Resistance arrayed against it. We're not alone if we've been mowed down by Resistance; millions of good men and women have bitten the dust before us.Steven Pressfield / quote ↗
