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Famous Steven Pressfield Quotes

“You and I may only be mortals, with all the foolishness and fallibility that that state implies, but we're mortals made in the image of heaven. The gods can't do their work without us. So let's be bold, in their cause and in our own. It's our job, we humans, to make manifest that which is unmanifest-and to raise into consciousness, in this material dimension, that which had been known before only in heaven.”

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Author:Steven Pressfield
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“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.”

IfsThinkingDoeSelfMatterShowsProblemStruggleDoubtAdversityNo Matter WhatDefeatMindsetEtcProcrastinationCrapSabotageSelf-doubtProcrastinatingSelf Sabotage
Author:Steven Pressfield
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“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.”

WorldGivingArtArtistActorsAttentionCreativityCreativeSelfishContributionCheatBad AssCreative WorkCreative PersonArtists And CreativitySelfish Acts
Book:The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
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“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.”

IfsRealSelfArtistChanceAskingScaredFinding YourselfChances AreInnovatorsCounterfeitReal OnesSelf Confident
Book:The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
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“I was keenly conscious of the comrades-in-arms who had fallen with me. A bond surpassing by a hundredfold that which I had known in life bound me to them. I felt a sense of inexpressible relief and realized that I had feared, more than death, separation from them. I apprehended that excruciating war survivor's torment, the sense of isolation and self-betrayal experienced by those who had elected to cling yet to breath when their comrades had let loose their grip.”

WarSelfFeltKnownArmsConsciousBreathsBoundsBetrayalSeparationFallenIsolationReliefSurvivorTormentComradeSurpassingSelf Betrayal
Book:Gates Of Fire
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“Nothing fires the warrior’s heart more with courage than to find himself and his comrades at the point of annihilation, at the brink of being routed and overrun, and then to dredge not merely from one’s own bowels or guts but from one’s discipline and training the presence of mind not to panic, not to yield to the possession of despair, but instead to complete those homely acts of order which Dienekes had ever declared the supreme accomplishment of the warrior: to perform the commonplace under far-from-commonplace conditions.”

MindHeartOrderFireConditionsDisciplineDespairTrainingPossessionSupremeWarriorAccomplishmentGutsYieldPanicCommonplaceComradeAnnihilationHomelyBowelsPresence Of Mind
Book:Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae
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“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.”

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Author:Steven Pressfield
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“When a warrior fights not for himself, but for his brothers, when his most passionately sought goal is neither glory nor his own life's preservation, but to spend his substance for them, his comrades, not to abandon them, not to prove unworthy of them, then his heart truly has achieved contempt for death, and with that he transcends himself and his actions touch the sublime. That is why the true warrior cannot speak of battle save to his brothers who have been there with him. The truth is too holy, too sacred, for words." -Suicide (Gates of Fire)”

HeartHas BeensActionFightingSpeakGoalFireBrotherHolyTruth IsBattleProveGlorySacredSuicideWarriorSubstanceAbandonGatesContemptSublimePreservationUnworthyComradeTrue Warrior
Book:Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae
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“These scars on my body,” Alexander declared, “were got for you, my brothers. Every wound, as you see, is in the front. Let that man stand forth from your ranks who has bled more than I, or endured more than I for your sake. Show him to me, and I will yield to your weariness and go home.” Not a man came forward. Instead, a great cheer arose from the army. The men begged their king to forgive them for their want of spirit and pleaded with him only to lead them forward.”

MenWantShowsHomeBodySpiritFrontsBrotherKingsArmyForgivingSakeWoundsMy BrotherYieldCheerScarWeariness
Book:The Warrior Ethos
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“This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don’t. When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete.”

KnowsIdeasRealArtistSecretSightDown AndNotesInsightFavorsEach DayIronDedicationMuseFilingReal ArtistsWannabes
Book:The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
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“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”

WorldLongRealMatterShowsJobsAcceptingMastersLaborPraiseNo Matter WhatBlameCommittedTechniqueSense Of HumorReal WorldStakesHaulLong HaulRemuneration
Author:Steven Pressfield
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“We fear discovering that we are more than we think we are. More than our parents/children/teachers think we are. We fear that we actually possess the talent that our still, small voice tells us. That we actually have the guts, the perseverance, the capacity. We fear that we truly can steer our ship, plant our flag, reach our Promised Land. We fear this because, if it’s true, then we become estranged from all we know. We pass through a membrane. We become monsters and monstrous.”

IfsThinkingKnowsChildrenStillsFearParentVoiceTeacherLandTalentCapacityPlantPerseveranceMonstersShipsGutsFlagsDiscoveringMonstrousSteersPromised LandParent ChildSmall VoiceMembranes
Book:The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
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“Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember our 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. Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore 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. That's why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there'd be no Resistance.”

IfsFeelsImportantSoulSelfRememberCertainGrowthDoubtCallingDegreesScaredResistanceEnterpriseThumbsSelf-doubtIndicators
Author:Steven Pressfield
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