Quotes from Steven Pressfield

The amateur is often unkind or insensitive to others, but she saves her most exquisite cruelty for herself.

We're facing dragons too. Fire-breathing griffins of the soul, whom we must outfight and outwit to reach the treasure of our self-in-potential and to release the maiden who is God's plan and destiny for ourselves and the answer to why we were put on this planet.

In other words, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity.

The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.

There are gods who watch over lost souls, particularly those who dream, and when these divinities' unknowable purposes align with the enterprise of these exiled souls, a force begins to flow that is as unquenchable as it is pure, and as knowing as it is indefatigable.

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.

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?

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.   The artist must be like that Marine. He has to know how to be miserable. He has to love being miserable. He has to take pride in being more miserable than any soldier or swabbie or jet jockey. Because this is war, baby. And war is hell.

We were put here on earth to act as agents of the Infinite, to bring into existence that which is not yet, but which will be, through us.

Improvisation is not a wild scramble at the last minute. You are not pulling plans out of thin air. Improvisation is the payoff of scrupulous preparation and drill.

In my experience, when we project a quality or virtue onto another human being, we ourselves almost always already possess that quality, but we're afraid to embrace (and to live) that truth.

When an idea pops into our head and we think, "No, this is too crazy," … that's the idea we want. When we think, "This notion is completely off the wall … should I even take the time to work on this?" … the answer is yes. Never doubt the soup. Never say no. The answer is always yes.