542 Quotes by Steven Pressfield

The concept in all these environments seems to be that one needs to complete his healing before he is ready to do his work.

My role-options in life and career, I realized, were not limited to Businessman, Athlete, and Boneheaded Patriot.

El-Masri lies under gravel and shingle, with no part of him visible aboveground except his left hand.

Henry Fonda was still throwing up before each stage performance, even when he was seventy-five. In other words, 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.

You become an artist once you start saying that you are an artist.

Who profits from a king’s fidelity save generations a thousand years unborn, and which of his works will they recall at that remove, or care?

Don’t think. Act. We can always revise and revisit once we’ve acted. But we can accomplish nothing until we act.

What are we trying to heal, anyway? The athlete knows the day will never come when he wakes up pain-free. He has to play hurt. Remember, the part of us that we imagine needs healing is not the part we create from; that part is far deeper and stronger. 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.

Is it healthy for a society to entrust its defense to one percent of its population, while the other 99 percent thanks its lucky stars that it doesn’t have to do the dirty work?