Steven Pressfield

Steven Pressfield
Steven Pressfieldis an American author, of historical fiction and non-fiction, and screenplays...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
CountryUnited States of America
integrity long favors
In other words, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term grown, health, or integrity. Or, expressed another way, any act that derives from our high nature instead of our lower. Any of these will elicit Resistance.
jobs real long
We’re all pros already. 1) We show up every day 2) We show up no matter what 3) We stay on the job all day 4) We are committed over the long haul 5) The stakes for us are high and real 6) We accept remuneration for our labor 7) We do not overidentify with our jobs 8 ) We master the technique of our jobs 9) We have a sense of humor about our jobs 10) We receive praise or blame in the real world
self long-ago mastery
Socrates demonstrated long ago, that the truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery.
closer knew
I knew I wanted to write novels, but I could not finish what I started. The closer I got, the more ways I'd find to screw it up.
asking commercial cowardice letter send surrender wishful
If you want to send a manuscript, send it to an agent. And send a letter first, asking permission. Launch it into the real world of cold-blooded commercial response, not into the fantasyland of wishful thinking, cowardice and surrender to Resistance.
art divide life pro turning war wrote
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.
answering born call less resistance stunts yield
The more important a call to action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel about answering it. But to yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be.
begin capacity inner ourselves rely terms
All of us need to begin to think in terms of our own inner strengths, our resilience and resourcefulness, our capacity to adapt and to rely upon ourselves and our families.
against alone bitten dust forces good men millions potent powerful resistance women
As 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.
march glory fame
Fame Imperishable and glory that will never die -- that is what we march for!
fear battle going-away
Fear doesn't go away. The battle must be fought anew every day.
thinking perserverance capacity
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.
selfish victory skins
For what can be more noble than to slay oneself? Not literally. Not with a blade in the guts. But to extinguish the selfish self within, that part which looks only to its own preservation, to save its own skin. That, I saw, was the victory you Spartans had gained over yourselves. That was the glue. It was what you had learned and it made me stay, to learn it too.
writing night entrepreneur
Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn't write, a painter who doesn't paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.