542 Quotes by Steven Pressfield

"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."

"Someone once asked Somerset Maugham 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."That's a pro."

"Always attack. Even in defense, attack. The attacking arm possesses theinitiative and thus commands the action. To attack makes men brave; to defendmakes them timorous."

"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."

"Stay stupid. Follow your unconventional, crazy heart."

"The sign of the amateur is overglorification of and preoccupation with the mystery. The professional shuts up. She doesn't talk about it. She does her work."

"The hack is like a politician who consults the polls before he takes a position. He's a demagogue. He panders."

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

"The working artist will not tolerate trouble in her life because she knows trouble prevents her from doing her work. The working artist banishes from her world all sources of trouble. She harnesses the urge for trouble and transforms it in her work."

"The professional learns to recognize envy-driven criticism and to take it for what it is: the supreme compliment. The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts."