110+ Steven Pressfield Quotes On Resistance, Inspiring And Engaging

Steven Pressfield is an American author of historical fiction and non-fiction. He is best known for his novel The Legend of Bagger Vance and his non-fiction book The War of Art. He is also the author of a number of other novels, including Gates of Fire and Tides of War. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Steven Pressfield on resistance, inspiring, engaging.

Top 10 Steven Pressfield Quotes

1. Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie.
2. Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.
3. 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.
4. Don't cheat the world of your contribution. Give it what you've got.
5. The essence of professionalism is the focus upon the work and its demands, while we are doing it, to the exclusion of all else.
6. 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.
7. A horse must be a bit mad to be a good cavalry mount, and its rider must be completely so.
8. Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.
9. The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.
10. Be too dumb to quit and too stubborn to back off.

Steven Pressfield Short Quotes

• Those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern over them.
• Nothing is as empowering as real-world validation, even if it's for failure.
• To feel ambition and to act upon it is to embrace the unique calling of our souls.
• He who whets his steel, whets his courage
• When we conquer our fears, we discover a boundless, bottomless, inexhaustible well of passion.
• The highest treason a crab can commit is to make a leap for the rim of the bucket.
• Many pedestrians have been maimed or killed at the intersection of Resistance and Commerce.
• Every artist has to face his own demons and evolve his own method of working.
• The amateur tweets. The pro works.
• I'm superstitious. I keep mum while I'm working on something.

Steven Pressfield Quotes About Resistance

On the field of The Self stand a knight and a dragon. You are the knight. Resistance is the dragon. — Steven Pressfield

The more you love your art/ calling/ enterprise, the more important its accomplishment to the evolution of your soul, the more you will fear it and the more Resistance you will experience facing it. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

Research can become Resistance. We want to work, not prepare to work. — Steven Pressfield

No 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

Its [Resistance] aim is to shove us away, distract us from doing our work. — Steven Pressfield

Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. — Steven Pressfield

Resistance is not a peripheral opponent. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. resistance is the enemy within. — Steven Pressfield

Resistance is directly proportional to love. If you’re feeling massive Resistance, the good news is, it means there’s tremendous love there too. If you didn’t love the project that is terrifying you, you wouldn’t feel anything. The opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s indifference. — Steven Pressfield

Resistance by definition is self-sabotage. — Steven Pressfield

Steven Pressfield Quotes About Inspiring

The Kabbalah describes angels as bundles of light, meaning intelligence, consciousness. Kabbalists believe that above every blade of grass is an angel crying "Grow! Grow!" ... I believe that above the entire human race is one super-angel, crying "Evolve! Evolve!" — Steven Pressfield

I believe in previous lives and the Muse—and that books and music exist before they are written and that they are propelled into material being by their own imperative to be born, via the offices of those willing servants of discipline, imagination and inspiration whom we call artists. — Steven Pressfield

It’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot. — Steven Pressfield

The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death. — Steven Pressfield

...she (the artist, the writer) doesn't wait for inspiration, she acts in the anticipation of its apparition. — Steven Pressfield

Start before you’re ready. — Steven Pressfield

The best and only thing that one artist can do for another is to serve as an example and an inspiration. — Steven Pressfield

Someone once asked Somerset Maughham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. "I write only when inspiration strikes," he replied. "Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp. — Steven Pressfield

The professional is acutely aware of the intangibles that go into inspiration. Out of respect for them, she lets them work. She grants them their sphere while she concentrates on hers. — Steven Pressfield

The professional does not wait for inspiration; he acts in anticipation of it. — Steven Pressfield

Steven Pressfield Quotes About Motivational

Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one 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. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experince it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential... Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work. — Steven Pressfield

It is one thing to study war and another to live the warrior's life. — Steven Pressfield

Steven Pressfield Quotes About Attention

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. — Steven Pressfield

Anything that draws attention to ourselves through pain-free or artificial means is a manifestation of Resistance. — Steven Pressfield

We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause. — Steven Pressfield

Steven Pressfield Famous Quotes And Sayings

Resistance in my experience always kicks in when you're trying to move from a lower level to a higher level or to identify with a braver part of yourself or your higher nature. So it's that negative repelling force. It's kind of the dragon that we have to slay every day if we're artists or entrepreneurs. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), "Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?" chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death. — Steven Pressfield

A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It’s only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

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 Pressfield

Concerning all acts of initiative there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. — Steven Pressfield

Courage is inseparable from love and leads to what may arguably be the noblest of all warrior virtues: selflessness. — Steven Pressfield

Socrates demonstrated long ago, that the truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery. — Steven Pressfield

When we make our art a practice, when we make our workspace sacred and enter it daily with respect and high intention, then we elevate our actions (even if they're taking place within the profane arena of commerce) beyond ego and above gimme-gimme ambition. — Steven Pressfield

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." — Steven Pressfield

We are all warriors. Each of us struggles every day to define and defend our sense of purpose and integrity, to justify our existence on the planet and to understand, if only within our own hearts, who we are and what we believe in. — Steven Pressfield

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

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. — Steven Pressfield

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 Pressfield

The artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell, whether he knows it or not. He will be dining for the duration on a diet of isolation, rejection, self-doubt, despair, ridicule, contempt, and humiliation. — Steven Pressfield

Turning 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

A great trick that I learned having worked as a screenwriter for many years, the way screenwriters work, is they break the project down into three-act structure: Act 1, Act 2, Act 3. I think that is a great way to break down any project, whether it's a new business or anything at all. — Steven Pressfield

There's a phrase you hear in Israel: "We're not Jews, we're Israelis." What that means is that the stereotype we're familiar with here in the States of the Diaspora Jew, i.e. Jews in America or Europe or Russia, etc. does not fit at all with the reality of the homegrown "sabras" of Israel. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

Evolution has programmed us to feel rejection in our guts. This is how the tribe inforced obedience, by wielding the threat of expulsion. Fear of rejection isn't just psychological; it's biological. It's in our cells. — Steven Pressfield

The instinct that pulls us toward art is the impulse to evolve, to learn, to heighten and elevate our consciousness. The Ego hates this. Because the more awake we become, the less we need the Ego. — Steven Pressfield

The part we create from can't be touched by anything our parents did, or society did. That part is unsullied, uncorrupted; soundproof, waterproof, and bulletproof. In fact, the more troubles we've got, the better and richer that part becomes. — Steven Pressfield

The 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. — Steven Pressfield

Next morning I went over to Paul’s for coffee and told him I had finished. “Good for you,” he said without looking up. “Start the next one today. — Steven Pressfield

If we were born to overthrow the order of ignorance and injustice of the world, it’s our job to realize it and get down to business. — Steven Pressfield

Do I really believe that my work is crucial to the planet's survival? Of course not. But it's as important to me as catching that mouse is to the hawk circling outside my window. He's hungry. He needs a kill. So do I. — Steven Pressfield

A 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

The opposite of fear is love - love of the challenge, love of the work, the pure joyous passion to take a shot at our dream and see if we can pull it off. — Steven Pressfield

Have you ever wondered why the slang terms for intoxication are so demolition-oriented? Stoned, smashed, hammered. It's because they're talking about the Ego. It's the Ego that gets blasted, waxed, plastered. — Steven Pressfield

As artists and professionals, it is our obligation to enact our own internal revolution, a private insurrection inside our own skulls. In this uprising we free ourselves from the tyranny of consumer culture. — Steven Pressfield

The professional will not tolerate disorder... He wants the carpet vacuumed and the threshold swept, so the Muse may enter and not soil her gown. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

It can pay off, being a hack. Given the depraved state of American culture, a slick dude can make millions being a hack. But even if you succeed, you lose, because you’ve sold out your Muse, and your Muse is you, the best part of yourself, where your finest and only true work comes from. — Steven Pressfield

When we are succeeding - that is, when we have begun to overcome our self-doubt and self-sabotage, when we are advancing in our craft and evolving to a higher level - that's when panic strikes. When we experience panic, it means that we're about to cross a threshold. We're poised on the doorstep of a higher plane. — Steven Pressfield

Tomorrow morning the critic will be gone, but the writer will still be there facing the blank page. Nothing matters but that he keep working. — Steven Pressfield

Ambition, I have come to believe, is the most primal and sacred and fundament of our being. To feel ambition and to act upon it is to embrace the unique calling of our souls. Not to act upon that ambition is to turn our backs on ourselves and on the reason for our existence. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

Right now with blogs and the flood of internet access, a multitude of aspiring writers think they're ready for prime time. They're not. Be great. Read. Write. Bust your ass. Learn and find your voice. As hard as you think it is, it's a hundred times harder. — Steven Pressfield

A contemporary or near-future book is much harder because you can't fake the facts. There are people alive who know much more than you do about the subject. You have to really have your research together - and of course no one can know everything about a topic. — Steven Pressfield

The professional dedicates himself to mastering technique not because he believes technique is a substitute for inspiration but because he wants to be in possession of the full arsenal of skills when inspiration does come. The professional is sly. He knows that by toiling beside the front door of technique, he leaves room for genius to enter by the back. — Steven Pressfield

The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits. We can never free ourselves from habit. But we can replace bad habits with good ones. — Steven Pressfield

Resistance is greatest just before the finish line. — Steven Pressfield

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

Artists are modest. They know they're not doing the work; they're just taking dictation. — Steven Pressfield

These are not easy questions. Who am I? Why am I here? They're not easy because the human being isn't wired to function as an individual. — Steven Pressfield

I love memoirs, particularly obscure ones because the writer is usually a regular guy just telling what happened to him and to his friends. What these tales lack in artfulness they make up for in passion and authenticity. For a writer of fiction, they are solid gold. I have stolen so much from memoirs it's ridiculous. — Steven Pressfield

We need to ascend beyond our own petty Resistance, our own negative self-judgment and self-sabotage, our own "I'm not worthy" mind-set. — Steven Pressfield

When we turn pro we stop running from our fears. We turn around and face them. — Steven Pressfield

Resistance is implacable, intractable, indefatigable. — Steven Pressfield

The professional conducts his business in the real world. Adversity, injustice, bad hops and rotten calls, even good breaks and lucky bounces all comprise the ground over which the campaign must be waged. The field is level, the professional understands, only in heaven. — Steven Pressfield

We will have to choose between the life we want for our future and the life we have left behind. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

As resistance works to keep us from becoming who we were born to be, equal and opposite powers are counterpoised against it. These are our allies and angels. — Steven Pressfield

In the hierarchy, the artist faces outward. Meeting someone new he asks himself, What can this person do for me? How can this person advance my standing? In the hierarchy, the artist looks up and looks down. The one place he can't look is that place he must: within. — Steven Pressfield

The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts. — Steven Pressfield

The last thing we want is to remain as we are. — Steven Pressfield

Every sun casts a shadow, and genius's shadow is Resistance. — Steven Pressfield

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. — Steven Pressfield

We feed it [Resistance] with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer Resistance. — Steven Pressfield

You 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

Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. — Steven Pressfield

The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying. Why is this important? Because when we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen. A process is set in motion by which, inevitably and infallibly, heaven comes to our aid. Unseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose. — Steven Pressfield

The professional loves her work. She is invested in it wholeheartedly. But she does not forget that the work is not her. — Steven Pressfield

If you're are paralyzed with fear it's a good sign. It shows you what you have to do. — Steven Pressfield

Our enemy is not lack of preparation; it’s not the difficulty of the project or the state of the marketplace or the emptiness of our bank account. The enemy is our chattering brain, which, if we give it so much as a nanosecond, will start producing excuses, alibis, transparent self-justifications and a million reasons why we can’t/shouldn’t/won’t do what we know we need to do. — Steven Pressfield

When we sit down to work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete. — Steven Pressfield

Writers think in metaphors. Editors work in metaphors. A great reader reads in metaphors. — Steven Pressfield

Writers think in metaphors. Editors work in metaphors. A great reader reads in metaphors. All are continually asking, "What does this represent? What does it stand for?" They are trying to take everything one level deeper. When they get to that level, they will try to go deeper again. — Steven Pressfield

Life Lessons by Steven Pressfield

1. Steven Pressfield's work emphasizes the importance of perseverance and self-discipline in achieving success. He encourages readers to take action and have faith in their abilities, even in the face of fear and doubt. He also emphasizes the importance of accepting failure as part of the journey and learning from it in order to move forward.